A Rainbow Tale: Hidden Chapters
by skyguys05
Summary: A look into Elline's Secret Diary as she recounts the past before Seventopia's creation, the events of A Rainbow Tale including the stories of certain Seventopia inhabitants, and the foreseeable future for herself and Claycia.
1. Origins of an Artful Friendship

**And so it begins, a year after A Rainbow Tale ends and months off the original release schedule (aka February 2019). There's nothing much to say other than... read... if you want to, that is...**

Hidden Chapter 1/?: Origins of an Artful Friendship

_Hi! It's me again! Elline!_

_So it's been a few months since Dark Crafter possessed Claycia and invaded Seventopia. I still have fresh memories of the day I met and saved Kirby and Bandana Dee on Popstar. If I didn't arrive there when I did… I don't even want to think of the consequences._

_Since then, __Seventopia has been peaceful and quiet. Claycia and I have been monitoring each world and the clay life forms that live on each planet._

_Even though a lot of time has passed, Claycia's power hasn't been fully restored so she's been taking it easy. After a long day, I come back to our resort to see her staring out into deep space as if she's looking for something. She tends to do that a lot, ever since she and I first met each other._

_Speaking of which, I remember the day Claycia and I first met on that starry planet. I woke up in her cave after apparently being unconscious for so long. I… don't remember what happened to cause me black out. The only thing I remember is that horrible nightmare I had before I woke up._

* * *

_"EHEHEHEHEHEHEE… EEEEHEHEHEHEHE… EEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEEE…"_

**_"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

Elline abruptly awoke from sleep while hyperventilating. Brief, yet familiar memories flash before her eyes as she calmed herself.

"Are you alright!?" A concerned voice asked.

When she looked at the source of the voice she began to panic unwillingly again. This figure vaguely reminded her of something or someone similar… almost as if she is the dark sorceress from her broken pieces of memory who…

"Shh…. Shh… it's okay, it's okay…" The unknown figure placed a hand on Elline's forehead to stroke it gently. This did the trick as the paintbrush was calming down, despite procuring apprehensive thoughts about the figure's appearance.

"Wha-where am I…?" Elline barely choked out.

"We are located on the Eternal Star, HalfMoon." she answered. "I was exploring a vast windy area and I found you face planted on the ground, surrounded by monsters. I destroyed them before they could lay a hand on you and took you to my cave home. Would you like something to drink?"

It took the paintbrush a few moments to realize that she's incredibly thirsty. Negative thoughts about this mysterious being began to wane.

"Yes… please…" she said with a hoarse voice.

Hearing the answer, the robed figure left Elline alone to go to her makeshift kitchen to get a glass of water. Elline took the opportunity to look around the cave. Truthfully, there is nothing special about it other than yellow star rock declarations all over it. The bed she was laying down on was not a part of the cave however. It was a real genuine colorless bed, which feels stiff to her. There's another colorless bed to her right that is the size of the figure. She wondered why the mysterious robed person possessed these comfy mattresses. She didn't realize that the said person came back with a glass of water until the figure cleared her throat, causing Elline to look back up front. Elline quickly noticed that the figure is levitating which is how she didn't hear footsteps coming back.

"Here you go. Drink up." the figure chirped.

Elline grabbed the drink, muttered a 'thank you' and gulped it down. When the glass was empty, she gasped in relief.

"Thank you again. I don't think I deserve your kindness." She said.

The robe figure smiled and nodded, taking the glass back and hiding it in her robe. "Think nothing of it, my fairy friend."

"Friend?" the paintbrush tilted her head.

"Yes, I consider you to be my friend. Unless… you don't want to…"

Elline heard the sad tone in her voice at the last sentence. Whether this mysterious person was playing with her emotions or not, she didn't think much of it. "N-n-no! I consider you to be my friend too. After all, you helped me and I've yet to repay the favor."

"You don't need to repay me anything. Just seeing you happy is enough." The sorceress sincerely replied.

"No. I have an idea." The paintbrush said.

Before the figure knew it, Elline flew out of the bed and morphed into her paintbrush form. Seeing this form, the figure's face immediately paled in fear for something else to occur. Luckily, nothing bad happened and Elline didn't notice her apprehension. She brushed over her new friend's colorless bed and colored it purple which is the color of her robes. Then she brushed over her own bed and colored it pink, the main color of her body. She returned to normal afterwards.

"Seeing these beds without color looked so wrong. I hope you don't mind me adding extra life to them." Elline shyly said.

"…It really does bring life to my current home." she smiled. "Thank you, my fairy friend."

"If there's more places for me to paint, I'll be on it!" she said in triumph, making the figure giggle.

"I'll make sure that your desires will be acclaimed. By the way, what is your name?"

"My name?" Elline lightly gasped upon realization of not telling her. "M-my name is Elline." She spoke slowly, yet already knowing her name despite having amnesia. Speaking of which, she didn't mention that to the figure yet.

"Well my fairy friend Elline, my name is Claycia and I am a magical sculptress." Claycia proclaimed. "I can create clay out of thin air and use them make new materials or even living beings." The sculptress demonstrated by willfully creating a ball of clay in her palms, then closing her fists to dissipate the built up clay.

"Is that how you made these beds, Claycia?" Elline asked in astonishment.

"Yes, and as you noticed, my power is incomplete on its own." She answered. "I've been travelling throughout the galaxy for some time now. I encountered Halfmoon and remained here for some time to think about… occurrences… in my life. It's the perfect remote planet to get away from everything, yet be close to everything."

Elline tilted her head. "Occurrences? 'Get away from everything, yet be close to everything.'?"

"It's oddly poetic, what I said. Regardless, I plan to start over and begin anew. The best way to do that is to explore Gamble Galaxy to see what is ahead of me."

"Then, I'll come with you." Elline proclaimed before Claycia could continue. "I want to find out what's in store for me. Especially, since I don't remember anything from before I became unconscious. Maybe, exploring the galaxy will help us find my purpose too."

Claycia tensed when Elline mentioned wanting to remember her past. But, Elline didn't notice.

"I like the sound of that, my fairy friend. Tomorrow, we'll depart for the unknown."

"Why not now?" Elline asked. "I'm ready to go!"

"Because it's night time right now. It may not look like it because Halfmoon is eternally shrouded in the curtain of night but with experience, you can tell the difference between day and night on various planets." Claycia explained. Elline yawned immediately after, proving the sculptress's point.

"Well, if you put it like that…" Elline flew back to her newly colored bed. "It'll be fun to sleep in the bed you created and I painted over. The bed feels a lot nicer and comfy too. Almost like its alive…"

Claycia felt her mattress with her palms and nodded in agreement. "Your power is special, Elline. Cherish it and together we'll bring smiles to everyone."

When Claycia didn't hear a response, she turned and found that Elline was asleep with a smile on her face. Claycia smiled too but for a brief moment. She adorned a sad frown as she lay down on her bed.

"I wish to thank the hero who defeated my sister and used the paintbrush for good intentions." Claycia mumbled quietly. "If there really are people out there in this galaxy who do not reek of vile intentions or do not fear kindness, then maybe… I… or we… have another purpose that doesn't involve anything evil. I hope to discover that purpose sooner than later…"

* * *

Over the course of various months, the two friends explored Gamble Galaxy. Claycia led Elline through space until she was able to fly at her speeds in space without issue. Despite this, Elline is vulnerable to being swept away by wind velocity on different planets. Regardless, the pair visited many planets and saw many exotic spaceships flying about, including a blue-white color ship with never before seen technology.

The hull is shaped like a seafaring ship with a keel at the bottom and three oars on each side, and a topsail on a single mast. There are two great wings on its aft, flanking its engines. The creature on deck is short with no feet and detached hands with white cream mittens. It bears a regal blue suit that is decorated with a white cape with gold and purple trimmings, gold-trimmed cog designs, and wears a white scarf with an interwoven blue belt. Most of his face is concealed by the scarf and the rest of his head is covered by his hood. The visible parts show his brown face with oval-shaped yellow eyes. The creature happily waved at the duo, the latter eagerly returned the waving, seeing that this creature is a friend. The creature watched them fly away before flying away on the Lor Starcutter itself.

In addition to the travelling, Claycia was teaching Elline how to harness her powers. Elline first learned her signature Rainbow Rope technique. With more guidance from the sculptress, she learned some other tricks inherited from the rope technique such as the Rainbow Rope shield to block attacks. But what really shocked her was that she had the hidden ability to transform almost any living thing into an artful creation of her choice with only a piece of paper to transfer the creation from.

"My, I never imagined that you could perform a feat like this on your first try." Claycia said as she and Elline watched a rocket morphed rock launch into the sky.

"Y-You knew I could do that?" Elline gasped. Claycia lightly chuckled.

"I sensed the potential in you. So I helped you hone your ability to the fullest." Clayca answered truthfully, with Elline blinking silently in surprise. "Anyways, let's go to another planet."

"Finally…!" Elline moaned as they took to the sky. "I'd thought we'd never leave. It's so hot here on Rock Star."

"The heat is annoying but I'm too fascinated by the planet's gravitational forces to not care about it. The structure of the rocks as they implode and explode to and from the center is intriguing to see…" Claycia continued to ramble, with Elline half paying attention to her talking.

Some unknown time later, the duo made their way to an abandoned factory on Shiver Star. Half of the factory is has dangerous and operational moving parts while the other half is a children's playpen of toys. Claycia silently noted that someone was here before them long ago in search of something based on the broken materials around the factory.

"You see Elline, Shiver Star is an abandoned planet with a lost history. Nobody knows the origin of these vast factories. Some say the planet underwent an ice age which removed a habitat here."

Elline said nothing, only looked around and absorbed the sight of the machinery.

"The reason why we're here is not so much about exploring, rather this area is the best place for me to tell you something of upmost secrecy." Claycia's usual friendly tone was absent. She created a ball of clay that's roughly Elline's size and tossed it on the ground. "Paint this in any color you wish."

Elline nodded before doing what she asked. The color of the ball is pink.

"Something about the colorless clay you created made me remember something very vague. The color popped up in my mind." Elline mentioned before Claycia could say anything.

The sculptress widened her eyes in surprise. Elline obviously didn't see it because of Claycia's concealed hair. "I see. Well, stand behind me."

Elline tilted her head. "What are you going to do Claycia?"

The sculptress took a deep breath. "…Something that I hopefully will never have to use again after this."

Elline gulped and flew behind Claycia and waited for her to do something. Once Claycia made sure Elline was safe, she created another clay ball albeit a much smaller one and tossed it in the air.

The fairy stared at the clay ball with anticipation. Claycia sat in the air with her legs crossed and mediated for a few seconds.

_"Redire ad originem_ _ubi sit color nisi unus." _

The orb fired a colorless light at the pink clay ball. Elline gasped in fear as the ball instantly lost its color and reverted back to the gray color it had before. Claycia held the pink coloring in her spare hand before dissipating it.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-what did you do?" Elline stuttered.

"Return to the origin where only one color existed. The Draining Light." Claycia mumbled fearfully.

"The Draining… Light?"

Claycia turned to Elline and looked her in the eye. "It is a dark technique that allows the user to siphon the color from anything whether they are living beings or not. If they are living beings, then they'll be petrified after losing their color. The only way to restore them is to return their lost color or paint over them with your special power, Elline."

Elline gasped lightly. She tried to say something but her tongue was caught in her throat.

"Even though you cannot use it yourself… _because being hit by this technique would end your life instantly."_ Claycia thought that last part to herself. "…I showed you this technique because I want to share with you a piece of who I am. And… if something wrongfully gets taken away, you must rightfully return it. You'll never see me use this power again under any circumstance."

"Claycia… what were you doing before you found me?" Elline asked fearfully.

"_I was afraid she would ask that." _Claycia remained silent to choose her next words carefully. "I… was with my evil sister in another dimension. My sister wanted to create a world… in her own image that's similar to the dimension we used to live at. I followed her ideology before realizing how ridiculous it was. I didn't want to commit to a life of stealing from others and have static and sour moods everywhere."

Elline slowly nodded, accepting the answer. "So… what happened to your sister?"

"She was destroyed by someone heroic. I don't know who it was but I'm deeply thankful to the one who put my sister to rest." Claycia smiled sadly.

"Oh… I'm sorry." Elline looked down with soft eyes. "I didn't mean for you to bring up the past like this."

"Oh nonsense." Claycia's happy tone returned slowly. "Besides, I can create a bright future with my new sister right here."

Elline brightly smiled and tightly hugged Claycia with the sculptress returning it instantly. Thoughts of the Draining Light evaporated in her mind.

"Claycia, I hope we'll always be together forever…" Elline smiled.

"This is a promise that I can keep, Elline." Claycia said. "Come. There is more I must teach you."

Elline's smile faded. Claycia anticipated this, however.

"Do not worry, my fairy friend as the next techniques will are not evil. I'm sure that you can replicate them yourself." The sculptress reassured. This did uplift Elline's spirits but she was still a bit apprehensive. "One day, I'll tell you more about my past. But today, we talk about the future..."

"_A… new host… at last._" an unknown voice echoed.

Claycia suddenly turned around and stared at the ceiling, her blood running cold at the sound of a mysterious yet disturbing voice. Confused by this, Elline flew in her vision.

"Umm, what's wrong Claycia?" she asked.

"…It's nothing, my fairy friend." She shook her head to clear her mind, silently grateful that Elline didn't hear what she heard. "I thought I heard something, but it was just my imagination."

Contempt with that answer, Elline began to pull the sculptress's hand elsewhere. "Okay, well, let's go continue my training!"

Smiling at the eagerness of the reincarnated Power Paintbrush, she nodded and accompanied her deep into the factory. Still, the thought of a dark being potentially watching them from elsewhere remained at the back of her mind. She shuddered at the thought. The last thing she needs is a reminiscent of her past stalking her.

Meanwhile, in the orbit of Shiver Star, an unusual purple sun shade had been observing Claycia, including the phenomena she demonstrated, despite the height, distance and location relative to where she is.

The duo continued onward, exploring the factory while simultaneously teaching Elline about the Secret Phrases. Trusting Elline to keep the information between them, Claycia teaches her the implications and the meaning of the words. Later on at night, while Elline is sleeping. Claycia carefully sculpted two diaries for their use. The next morning, Elline was ecstatic to see the diaries she made and quickly painted them blue and tan before Claycia could react.

"Let's take a picture Claycia!" Elline suggested. "We could have them in the front pages of our Secret Diaries!"

"A marvelous idea, my fairy friend. I just so happen to—" As Claycia pulled out an unpainted camera, Elline snatched and colored it, already making it functional and returned it at sonic speed with a massive smile. "Y-you're eager, aren't you?"

Elline giggled. "Yep, I'm just excited!"

The duo took four selfies and placed one copy on the front page of their diaries. The other two copies were placed in the respective pockets.

The duo continued onward, eventually arriving at an abandoned city. They were both amazed at the wrecked HR-H and HR-E robots, leading to their belief that someone destroyed them at a recent time relative to the age of the factory.

"As you see Elline, this city or rather, planet has been populated by an unknown race. No one in Gamble Galaxy knows what has happened to this race. I believe that they relocated themselves elsewhere in search of a better home." Claycia explained.

"A better home… like what we're doing right now?" Elline asked. "I mean, we haven't found a proper place to settle yet."

"That is the case. Though you see, my goal is to create a planetary system for people who are searching for homes. I want them to find the place they are looking for and settle there." Claycia reminisced.

"Wait… you can create a planet? How?" Elline gasped, leading Claycia to chuckle.

"It's simple… well the process doesn't look simple but it's something that I can do. It's just that it won't be complete without someone to help me."

At that, Elline realized that Claycia has been training her powers to help her achieve her dream of providing a haven for other life forms.

"'You must always give to others, rather than take' or something like that." Elline quoted inaccurately. Claycia giggled.

"Yes! My gift to the galaxy is the planetary system for all. And I would want you to help me achieve that dream, my fairy friend."

"Claycia, I'd love to do so… but how can I? I don't know if I can paint an entire planet by myself…"

"Nonsense, if you focus your power into me, we can channel it together. Everything will go smoothly; you'll see when we began. Just remember everything you've learned and you'll be fine."

Hearing these words of comfort brought a smile to the fairy girl's face.

"Okay, Claycia. Let's go create a planet!" she cheered.

Claycia smiled warmly and brought her into a hug. Elline returned it immediately.

Back in the orbit, the mysterious black shades overheard everything from their conversation. With a silent chuckle, the shade began putting its plan into motion...

* * *

_Diary Entry_

_We eventually planned out and constructed Seventopia and its inhabitants. Well, Claycia did all the planning while I just waited for her to execute her ideas. _

_Claycia wanted to create habitats for all the general life forms. So that means that the worlds we create should suit everyone. Green Valley for the green scenery, Yellow Dunes for the sun baked desert, Indigo Ocean for the aquatic and seafaring type, Blue Sky Palace for the blue birds, Orange Woodland for the safari jungle and Red Volcano for the hot and molten types. Ways of transportation in the worlds would be the rainbow bridges that link one world to the next and a flying cruise ship that would orbit Seventopia called Bastron. The last world is our personal mansion, The Rainbow Resort._

_That was the plan for Seventopia. Everything seemed so well and good until that fateful day after we finished the worlds. After Claycia created the evil Purple Fortress, bad things began to happen. Those monstrous Grab Hands led everything into disarray and at the time, I was scared of what would happened to the sportles and cottas._

_I knew I had to get outside help somehow before those Grab Hands could capture me._

* * *

Elline quickly flew behind a lone asteroid to catch a breath. Once she felt comfortable, she slowly peeked around it to examine the Grab Hands leave the orbit of Blue Sky Palace and scout the area. The fairy quickly hid back behind the rock.

"Oh Claycia… what have you done…" Elline cried and huddled herself close.

As the fairy contemplated what to do next, she saw a portal slowly open up far ahead of her. The portal revealed a large yellow star planet on the other side.

"Could that be…?" Elline gasped. "Yes, that has to be Planet Popstar!" she sighed in relief. "Maybe I can find him. The hero of Popstar possibly who can save my friend."

* * *

_Flashback_

"Yes… Planet Popstar… it's said to be special in some way. And whatever makes it so special attracts dangers from all over Gamble Galaxy and beyond."

"Danger? I feel really bad everyone living there."

"But they have nothing to worry about. The planet has a hero living on the planet."

"_A hero…" _Elline thought.

"I don't recall his name." Claycia admitted. "But he is described as someone who is brave and strong with a happy-go-lucky personality. Don't take him too lightly or he will chew you up and spit you out." Claycia chuckled.

* * *

"Brave and strong with a happy-go-lucky personality…" Elline said to herself. "I wish I could meet him together with Claycia…"

She was forced out of her thoughts by the sound of ominous laughter closing in on her. The fairy peeked around the rock again and saw the Grab Hands closing in on her. This immediately prompted the terrified fairy to fly away before they could get her.

"Please, leave me alone!" she cried on deft ears.

Meanwhile, back at the newly formed Purple Fortress, Claycia is mediating in front of a large ball of gray clay. The clay had a sinister gray aura to it.

_"I am about to drain the planet dry. Make sure you catch that fairy pest. We must not let her interfere with out plans."_ Claycia commanded the hands telepathically.

"Yesss… Claycia…" they both said before cutting off the telepathic link.

She continued to focus her power onto a large ball of clay that is perfectly aimed in the direction of the portal.

_"Redire ad originem_ _ubi sit color nisi unus."_

The Draining Light was fired towards the Popstar portal. A while later, a wave of rainbows was sent back through the portal and into the fortress, forming the large and unstable rainbow orb.

Claycia laughed with no shame at the act she did. "Now all I have to do is wait for the Hands to capture that fairy so I can force her to help me use this color to my bidding… if necessary."

Claycia reached out to the color and touched it with her spare hand. She could feel the power surge through her.

"Yes… this color is truly one of a kind. Planet Popstar truly does have the power that would make my Wonder Space dominance a reality…"

The orb shook violently, as if it didn't want to follow what Claycia yearned. The sculptress ignored the action.

Some time later, The Grab Hands reported to Claycia about their failure. She then sends them to capture Kirby instead; their description of the puffball began to slowly return memories of a past encounter.

"So the fairy girl managed to escape my grasp. No matter, she won't be able to stop me, even with the help she has acquired. Once I get a hold of this, all the color in the universe will be in my hand… quite literally." Claycia chuckled lightly.

She turned and faced the rainbow orb which was looking dangerously unstable.

"Now then… shall we begin?" She muttered ominously.

The sculptress raised her hand and muttered words under her breath. The rainbow orb reacted in a blinding light. Yet, Claycia did not mind this due to her concealing blue hair and sunglasses.

_"A__misso colore stella, audite me__." _

The color responded by firing a laser beam in Claycia's direction. Anticipating the attack, she teleported to the other side of the orb to avoid it.

"Did you not hear what I said!?'" Claycia screeched. "_A__udite me__!"_

_You are following the path of your evil sister, are you not? Are you not aware that she once transformed my origin planet into paint? Now you've extracted me to do something similar?_

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not, in any way, related to that painting witch." Claycia replied.

_I am aware that I am not speaking to Claycia. Rather, I am speaking to the Dark Matter sentinel hosted in her body. Yet, you have drawn out her most evil ambition from her dark past that she wants no part of anymore and used it for your desire, no?_

"Because her ambition matched my ambition." "Claycia" gritted her teeth. "A world to rule without opposition!"

_It matched only before the sorceress was defeated. And even then, she had doubts long before then. You have simply used the dark side of her mind to fuel your lost power. The good side of her mind wished for a world where everyone lives together happily. For that, I will not assist you in any task you attempt._

"Oh, I have ways of making sure you'll do my bidding!" the sculptress promised.

_You'll have to destroy me before I can succumb to your desires, Dark Crafter. _

"Even if I wanted to, a priceless embodiment of life cannot be easily destroyed, even if I have my full strength." "Claycia" admitted. "But I have another idea. One that involves a four way split of reincarnation..."

_Despite your ideas and promises, I will not falter to you. Instead, I shall await the coming of the heroes who will stop you. At that point, my true power will be revealed to them and them alone. _The color faded and remained silent.

Chuckling at the last statement, "Claycia" turned back and went to the balcony of the ruined resort. Though she stares at the depths of Wonder Space, with the resort being surrounded by a mysterious purple fog, she can sense work being done for her ultimate plan in the newly crafted Purple Fortress.

"After all, you take what is vulnerable, and give nothing back." Claycia chuckled darkly before an aura radiated from her being.

The colorful orb rotated faster and began blinking rapidly…

**This was actually supposed to be the fourth chapter in this story. But alas, it's the first one, simply because I'm more… confident of my work on this chapter compared to the remaining chapters. Since this takes place before the events of my first story, the order doesn't matter. What matters is that I finally released a part of something from my document that has been incubating since August 2016. **

**Better late than never… I suppose…**


	2. Painter's Lesson in the Sky Cotta Colony

**Here is the original first chapter of this story. Admittedly, I finished the rough draft of this chapter sometime before or after I released Kirby 64 in Another Dimension. I waited for so long because I'm not too confident on this chapter. Regardless of my internal thoughts, I have a promise to keep… and that is uploading this story.**

Hidden Chapter 2/9.5: Painter's Lesson in the Sky Cotta Colony

_The huge world of Blue Sky Palace intimidated me before. Even though I could fly, it usually feels like the entire sky is closing in on me…_

_Luckily I got used to it, right as Kirby, Bandana Dee and I entered the world. I was afraid they'd feel intimidated like I was when I saw this world but they were overjoyed at the beauty of it. It made me really happy seeing them enjoy the world Claycia and I created._

_After some... separation issues, we ran into the Sky Cottas. I still have no idea why Claycia spared them. I try not to think too much about it because they were essential into helping us free Claycia from that Dark Matter jerk. Anyways, before we could continue on our quest, the Seventopia cruise ship appeared and began to pursue us!_

_Bastron chased us into a creaky old tower and tried to blast us away with its cannons. Thankfully, we found a canvas stand to transform Kirby into Kirby Rocket. Then, he fearlessly flew right into the monstrosity's insides and detonated a countdown by pressing a bossy switch. Kirby escaped before it could blow up and he returned to the spot I transformed him in._

_But it wasn't over yet. Those pesky Grab Hands ambushed us as we crash landed. I couldn't do anything to fight them and neither could Bandana Dee. They could have nabbed Kirby and return to Claycia right there but… one of the cottas came to our rescue!_

* * *

"By the way" Bandana Dee started. "What is your name?"

The cotta froze in place realizing that he never introduced himself properly.

"umm… Cyano…" he mumbled quietly.

"Cyano is your name?" Bandana Dee clarified.

"Yes." He replied. "My name is as strange as my entire shell. But that's not the point. The point is that I came here for my objective." The trio's eyes perked up.

"You didn't just come here to get the canvas stand... right?" Bandana Dee asked, trying to figure out this cotta's motives.

"Well, yes but actually... no?" Cyano responded by a headshake and remained silent.

"…But you saved us too…?" the waddle dee questioned when the cotta didn't elaborate further. "Like it was your mission or something."

"I... I didn't know you were going to be in trouble." Cyano and gazed towards Kirby. "Nor did I expect myself to do something to stop those t-t-terrifying hands from abducting Miss Elline's… friend."

"Point taken…" Bandana Dee shrugged.

"Poyo?" Kirby pointed to the canvas stand behind him.

Cyano nodded at the gesture. "Well... yes... my main objective was to retrieve the canvas stand for you, Miss Elline, so you can teach Kirby how to paint." Cyano paused momentarily. "If that ship never came, I hoped you'd stop the thunderstorms by now and then return back to the cloud for the night…"

Elline glanced at the sky and saw that the blue sky is slowly turning into a yellow sky. "We can still stay at your home since the sun is starting to set. And thanks for the reminder." Elline said with a genuine smile. "I do want to live up to my promise after all about teaching Kirby the basics of painting."

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby performed his signature stance in happiness.

"If that's the case Miss, then we'll head back now." Cyano walked over to the stand and lifted it with the top of his head at ease. Naturally, this earned blank stares from Kirby and Bandana Dee. "What… is it…?" the cotta blinked nervously.

Elline sensed the confusion and answered for them. "They've never seen you or any cotta carry large items so they were just surprised, that's all."

Cyano discernibly relaxed upon hearing this. Without another word, he walked past the trio on the path he traveled to reach them. The said trio followed him at a distance.

"What goes on in his mind?" Bandana Dee whispered to Elline out of the cotta's hearing.

"Beats me. He's a lot more… uh, mysterious than the other cottas and that's saying something." Elline admitted. "He's the only one who gave us his name. All the others are secretive about it because they think non-cottas won't understand their name meanings or something."

"Do you know all their names?" Bandana Dee curiously asked.

"Umm, I don't… b-but Claycia knows all of their names." Elline hesitantly replied.

As the band of four walked down a secret path that the cotta does not want them to share details about, Cyano began to think about his action in the tower.

_"Those hands are terrifying... but I leapt into action without thinking. It just felt like it was the right thing to do yet…"_ Cyano sighed. _"…I fought those hands and lived to tell my tale..." _The cotta blankly looked up at the sky._ "The other cottas may not believe me for saving Kirby but at least Miss Elline's friends won't under appreciate me." _

Cyano glanced at the group behind them. They were too busy in their discussion that they didn't notice that the cotta turned around to stare at them.

_"I want to know more about Miss Elline's friends better, especially Kirby. If Miss Elline thinks highly of him, then I want to hear Kirby's thoughts on her…"_

The cotta's analytic eyes scanned to Bandana Dee.

_"Then there's the bandana wearing guy. Something about his species, reminds me of our species. Maybe it's just me…"_

* * *

The Sky Cottas watched the four of them walk towards them in triumph over Bastron. They instantly surrounded three of them in happiness offered hugs from all sides. Cyano used this opportunity to vanish from the crowd, despite having a large, visible item on his head.

"How… much… appreciation can they give?" Bandana Dee yelled loud enough for his other two friends to hear.

"Poyooo!" Kirby was overwhelmed by their excitement.

"The cottas can be overbearing at times." Elline said as she flew above their reach, much to their annoyance. "Luckily, a fairy girl like me can fly!"

"But… can you tell them to stop? Bandana Dee groaned.

As he said that, the cottas ended their appreciation and watched the trio anxiously.

Elline explained to them that they'll need a place to stay for the night, in which the cottas unanimously agreed for them to stay. They told them that there are two available guest rooms at the lowest floor and Elline should choose her roommate, if she wants one at all. She agreed to have Kirby be her roommate so they could have a room to paint. The cottas then welcomed the trio inside and toured the cloudy home.

The entire inside of the cotta cloud resembled a house's interior where clouds substitute for real walls and floors. The stairs they were climbing down led into a wide living room with tons of sofas and an inactive TV. The dining hall is by the TV but the door is closed. There are many rooms alongside the walls and hallways of the home. The cottas took the trio to their respective rented rooms at the end of a cloudy hallway. One room for Bandana Dee and the other is for Kirby and Elline.

The trio entered Kirby and Elline's room and looked around. It contained a couch, some art supplies such as pencils and crayons, and one large blue bed. The canvas stand is also in the room but there is no sign of the carrier who brought it here.

"You guys didn't have to make this room for me…" Elline blushed.

"Oh, but we must. We'll even have dinner later so don't forget." They said before departing, leaving Kirby, Elline and Bandana Dee alone.

"Sooo, what will you two do?" Elline asked her friends.

"I'm going to explore this cloudy home." Bandana Dee said. "We haven't had a chance to relax under a roof since this adventure started."

On the other hand, Kirby curled up on the fluffy floor. It wasn't a bed but it was so comfortable to his feet that he could not resist the temptation. His brain immediately turned off and his breathing became relaxed, suggesting that he fell asleep.

"The floor is not a bed, silly." Elline grinned as he smiled in his sleep. The fairy picked him up and placed him on the actual bed, which is probably less comfortable than the floor.

Bandana Dee walked to the door. "I'll catch you later then." Bandana Dee waved.

"Okie-dokie then. Let's meet up again later tonight at the dinner table." Elline waved back at the waddle dee as he departed.

The fairy turned her attention back to the sleeping puffball and flew closer to him. She thoughtfully watched him as he peacefully slept.

"I was hoping I could show him the basics now… but later!" She thought out loud. "At least, I can catch up on my secret diary." The fairy flew over to the couch on the other side of the room and pulled out her diary and pencil. She glanced at Kirby before giggling to herself.

When Bandana Dee was walking down the hallway, he got stopped by three particular green cottas. Two of them apparently wore respective three green chef hats while one had a blue chef hat, signifying that he's the lead chef. They wanted him to follow them into their cloudy kitchen so they can take note of his know his favorite foods. The waddle dee didn't mind what would be served to him and built up a conversation once they were in the kitchen.

"…And that's how Bastron was defeated." He proudly stated, the cottas applauded by stomping their feet lightly.

"So what's next?" one asked.

"Simple, we'll find out the cause of the storms you guys mentioned and we'll stop them." The waddle dee put an arm to his chest (or lack of, however) proudly.

"What about the other worlds?" another asked. "What will you guys do then?"

"Oh… I never thought of how many worlds are left…" Bandana Dee admitted.

"Before those storms blocked our path, we occasionally went to the next world to gather food supplies..."

"…And that's also a challenge on its own."

"What do you guys mean? Harvesting fruit off of a tree isn't hard. It's one of the easiest jobs I do back on Dreamland." Bandana Dee questioned.

"No, we're talking about the… _ahem_ …mysterious creature… that likes to play pranks on us…"

Bandana Dee tilted his head in confusion. "Mysterious… creature…?"

"It begins when you are all alone in nature…"

"The forest world makes you lonely already, Ol… err… yeah, it-it's a lonely place because all the cottas vanished."

"Hold on, our fellow cottas didn't vanish. They just ran elsewhere because of their fear of that creature!"

"Guys, what are you talking about?" Bandana Dee asked on deaf ears.

"Of course they vanished! Haven't you noticed our numbers dwindling down and the number of those tan cottas increasing? I know this because we've been using less of our resources by the day!"

"How about we continue this argument on the stove to fuel our motivation?" The three cottas turn towards the bewildered waddle dee. "What would you like to have, Mr. Dee?"

"Oh, umm, I'll have whatever you have on the menu." Bandana Dee said quickly, too bewildered at their antics.

"And what of Kirby?" the blue hat asked. "What would he like to have?"

"We would ask but we can't enter the Mistress's room for reasons…" one said.

Bandana Dee raised his eyebrow. "Reasons such as…?"

"She's always liked her privacy when she draws something. During the construction period, a few of us once asked her to let us watch her draw pictures but she denied our proposals each time."

"That sounds like Elline alright. She's very protective of what she does. Speaking of her drawings, she's planning on teaching Kirby the basics of drawing."

"Ooh, really? I never thought she'd teach else anyone her skills. The boys and I would really want to witness this occasion!" The other two cottas nodded simultaneously.

Bandana Dee put a hand to where a chin would be and closed his eyes. "…Maybe, I could convince her to let you guys join me in watching?"

"That'll be amazing… if you can make it work, Mr. Dee."

"I'm sure it'll work." Bandana Dee reassured.

"Okay…" the led chef said. "Well, it's time for us to get back to work. It was nice talking to you."

"The pleasure is all mine… uh… w-what's your name again?"

To say asking that question is a mistake is an understatement.

The three cottas hissed at him like a snake and nearly pounced on him. The action caused him to jump back in surprise.

"OUr NaMEs ArE toO cOmPleX foR lIfE FoRMs sUcH as yOU! YoU AnD thE PEoPlE sEEing tHeSe wOrDs wiLL NeVeR UnDeRsTaNd wHy!" the led chef yelled angrily.

"Y-yeah, o-okay, I'll see you guys later…?" Bandana Dee gulped. Truthfully, he almost felt like laughing because their cute appearances negates their threat.

The three cottas dropped their threatening act and smiled warmly. "Yes, of course! See you soon, Mr. Dee!"

Bandana Dee shook his head at the quick change of expressions before leaving the kitchen. Cottas are very strange indeed. That includes a cyan cotta who was eavesdropping on the entire conversation.

* * *

Over the remainder of the day, Bandana Dee explored the cotta home. From what he learned from his conversations with the cottas, all the cottas came together and created their cloudy home from scratch. The blue cottas gathered the cloudy materials and softened them up for construction, while the green cottas pieced them together and blueprinted the interior and exterior. The blue cottas prefer to gather more resources while the green prefer to maintain the structure. This makes sure that everyone does their job in maintaining their current home. Supposedly, one of them had the most influence during the construction process but the cotta remained anonymous.

Meanwhile, Kirby is still sound-asleep with Elline lying next to him on the bed. Unlike her companion, she can't seem to get rest due to everything going on in her mind regarding Claycia and what she did to Bastron.

"_How could she transform the Seventopia cruiser into a battleship in the way she did?_" The fairy girl sighed and stood up. "Maybe I should see what's going on right now. It'd be nice to talk to the cottas about what's been happening since Claycia went crazy."

The three green cottas were working in the kitchen to prepare another dinner with their brethren even though some tensions are still high from earlier. But they claim that they work best under pressure or tension. The ingredients on the table are culminations of fruits and veggies with some meat on the side for protein, including unique light blue and light green eggplants. As they rummaged through the pile, one cotta realized that they're missing some fruit.

"Boss Shamorocka, We're out of—"

"Hush Olive!" Shamorocka silenced the lackey. "We don't want our guests to hear our real names!"

"But Boss, you just called Olive by his name." the other unnamed cotta said.

"Pear, be quiet or they'll hear us!" Olive said.

"Settle down you two, we'll just leave it as 'Green Chef Hat Cotta 1' or something. It'll be a lot better for… consistency." Shamorocka gulped nervously.

"Boss, what do you mean 'consistency'" Pear asked obliviously.

"Let's just say that we should, uh, 'remain unnamed' until a few days later where Miss Elline and her friends finish… their… adventure…" the cotta finished nervously, realizing that he spoke words in a forbidden context.

"Y'know… we shouldn't be talking about that type of spoilers here." Olive said after realizing the details of the scenario they are in.

"Why not? The people reading this text should know what will eventually happen, right?" Pear replied.

Olive raised an eyebrow to Pear. "And if they don't know…?"

"Then maybe…" Pear paused to think. "…Maybe they should read that twenty-three chapter long story first. Buuuuut, I think the author thinks very little of it due to how ideas came to him on the fly, which made it very disorganized or something like that to his eyes." He attempted to shrug.

"If the author had some negative thoughts about his story then it never should have been written. Maybe he should have written all the chapters beforehand and then publish them one by one on a weekly basis." Shamorocka voiced.

Olive stifled a laugh at the 'weekly basis' comment.

"Isn't that what he planned on doing or something?" Pear asked. Shamorocka shrugged in response.

"Wait but… if he did that…" Olive started. "It could have taken more than three years to publish everything. He could have lost interest while planning everything out. In fact, I… I don't think we'd even exist!"

The three chefs looked at each other nervously. Eventually, Shamorocka broke the silence.

"I-I've heard that the story was written solely because of one event he imagined that would occur in the actual game. Yet, it never came to be despite the various scenes that were implied in text and picture by Miss Elline herself." Shamorocka said in attempt to steer away from the dark road the conversation was heading towards.

"And what would that imagination be?" the two cottas asked with anticipation. The head chef shook his head in reply.

"You two boys are asking the wrong cotta. And even if you try to ask the author somehow, he wouldn't give a definitive answer. We'll just have to reread that story and find any subtle hints in the chapters."

"…Which brings us back to 'read that story before reading this story if you haven't already'" Pear concluded.

"Precisely. Anyways, back to work we go." Shamorocka said as he turned to his cooking pot. "Oh, and, I guess it'll be okay if we address each other by real names for now. Just don't let anyone else hear it or you'll answer to me. Understand?" the cotta hissed.

"Yes, boss!" Olive and Pear replied softly to the threat.

Elline peeked in just as they finished their little… discussion. As she watched from the door, one of the cottas spotted her. She quickly apologized for intruding and turned to fly away before being asked to come back. The cottas wanted to know what they desire to acquire for their servings later on so she eagerly began discussing.

"His favorite food is apples?" The three cottas asked in surprise.

"I think so. The last time I saw him with an apple was when he was staring at an uncolored apple. He looked very sad because he couldn't eat it." Elline recounted the past, now feeling somewhat guilty about not painting his fruit snack.

"Hmm…" Shamorocka mumbled.

"Uh, boss. We're fresh out of apples and getting more right now is impossible because of the storm cloud blocking our path." Olive said, still thinking about the minor discussion they had earlier.

"Oh, well, that's a bummer…" Elline looked down.

Pear stepped in. "On the bright side, we have all the ingredients for your favorite rainbow deluxe parfait."

Elline's eyes widened. "Ooh, yes! I can't wait!"

"The meal should be ready soon so make sure your other two friends are aware." The boss cotta said. Elline nodded cheerfully and left the kitchen.

Simultaneously, Kirby woke up from his nap. With a yawn and stretch, he took off from the room...

…Not before taking a glance at a brown book across from him. He rolled over to it and recognized who it belonged to.

"Elline…" he muttered.

The puffball respected her privacy and didn't touch the Secret Diary. Instead, he left the room with a skip in his step or "roll" in this scenario. As much as he wants to know how the fairy thinks about him, it's best for her to tell him those thoughts herself when the time comes.

Kirby walked through the halls and greeted passerby Sky Cottas. As he turned a corner that led to the main staircase, he bumped into a familiar cyan cotta.

"Poyo!" he greeted Cyano.

"Oh, Kirby…" he mumbled silently. "I was meaning to ask you something…"

"Poyo…?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"How do you feel… about Miss Elline?" he asked.

Kirby was silently thinking about the words that were processed in his head. How does he feel about her? He's her friend, right.

"I mean, it's okay if you have hidden feelings for her and don't want to say it." He carefreely stated. "A significant moment may occur if this is true."

With widened eyes, Kirby blushed slightly. Where was he going with this conversation? The puffball lightly shook his head to compose himself.

"Poyo…?" he mumbled.

"Well, okay then. That's all I needed to know." Cyano said before walking up the stairs, vanishing from sight. Kirby watched him leave with a dumb-folded expression, wondering what that was about.

The puffball didn't want to ponder on those thoughts. Instead, he turned around and began rolling to his next destination…

…Where Kirby and Elline happened to bump right into each other at the perfect scenario before he could head off into that said destination.

"Oh, Kirby. I didn't see you there. Sorry about that." She apologized.

"Poyo." He shook his head and accepted her apology. He pointed at her as if he was asking a question.

"Where was I going? I was going to tell you what some of the cottas told me." she replied. "You've been asleep for a few hours now. They're preparing our dinner and it's almost ready."

Kirby beamed at the news. But he had another question on his mind. The way he portrayed it is by pointing at her than at their guest room.

Elline felt as all the cottas' eyes were watching her through the walls upon seeing the gesture. "You want to spend time with me now? Not now. The cottas are almost done with the meal. If I teach you about painting now, we'll get interrupted and I don't want that to happen." Kirby blinked twice before he nodded in understanding.

"I'd love to spend some time with you any day of the week but there's something I need to do first." The surprisingly calm nature slowly diminished for some reason. "So, I'll… I'll see you tonight for our art date. _Oh no, I did not just say that!?"_

"Date…?" Kirby mumbled while tilting his head.

"Forget what I just said okay! I'll see you later!" Elline yelled before flying away rapidly with a red face, leaving Kirby alone… again.

Elline flew back into their guest room and brought out artist materials that'll be used for later.

"That was nerve-wracking…" She sighed in relief. "I just hope that nobody else heard what I said."

Kirby stared at the corridor where Elline flew through, now even more confused over what just happened.

"Date…" He mumbled while walking away.

"Hmm… that doesn't seem to be a significant moment for those two." Cyano thought from afar. "It looks like I'll have to observe them tonight."

A few minutes after that fiasco went underway, Kirby found himself exploring the cloudy mansion. Only one area was off limits to him and that is the kitchen. He childishly pouted at the action but he didn't let it cross him mind. Before leaving, he noticed that Bandana Dee was inside the kitchen, talking to the chefs about something. Regardless, he played and interacted with almost all the sky cottas in the mansion except one certain cyan cotta who Kirby really wanted to see.

And finally, dinnertime came around. There was a very long and narrow table in the living room that was enough to fit everyone. There were three seats that were designated for Kirby, Elline and Bandana Dee. The trio was the first ones to sit down there before all the other cottas sat in random seats.

The three cotta chefs provided their brethren with each of their plates filled with their favorite foods. When it came to the trio, each chef cotta gave out their plates one by one.

Elline was provided with none other than…

"Rainbow Deluxe Parfait! My favorite!" she squealed.

"Is that all you're having?" Bandana Dee asked.

"That's all I NEED!" she responded.

"Our Rainbow Deluxe Parfait is delicious and nutritious. It's essentially a full meal in a drink. We mixed the vanilla yogurt and cream with all our grinded fruits we have available, so naturally it used a lot of our resources. But we were more than happy to provide Miss Elline with her needs." Shamorocka said.

The other two green hat chefs walked to Bandana Dee and placed his meal in front of him.

"A hot dog, taco and hamburger?" The waddle dee questioned after seeing the three types of foods in front of him.

"Yeah, you told us that you didn't mind what you wanted to get so we just made you something simple. Three meals in one! Enjoy!" Shamorocka said.

Bandana Dee glanced at Elline who smiled and shrugged.

"Now I understand how the king feels when the waddle dees serve him the same food every day." Bandana Dee sighed. _"Once we head back to Dreamland, I'll make His Majesty the best sushi ever made."_

Lastly, there was Kirby who was waiting patiently. The meal provided to him was…

Elline, Bandana Dee, even Cyano and all the cottas gasped at what they saw on Kirby's plate.

"A maxim tomato!?" Bandana Dee said in shock.

The tomato was double the size of Kirby and it glowed in a very faint red aura.

"We couldn't think of anything else to make him too. Luckily, we still had this tomato back in the preserves. It's our last one we stored away, so we decided to give it to him to cater to his huge stomach. Since it has come to our knowledge that you destroyed Bastron, we decided to give you our greatest appreciation to you from us, the chef cottas." Shamorocka said heartfully. Kirby didn't respond as he was gazing at the vegetable/fruit with sparkling eyes.

"How did they know that it was technically Kirby who destroyed the ship?" Elline whispered to Bandana Dee.

"It came up when I was talking to them earlier." He whispered back.

"Enjoy your individual meals everyone! As usual, we put our hearts into making this for all of you!" The three chefs declared. All the cottas cheered and digged in.

Kirby's eyes showered in adoration as he took a bite of the delicate and juicy fruit/vegetable.

Elline's eyes did the same as she took a sip of her favorite drink.

Bandana Dee was satisfied with his food but he didn't experience true delicacies.

While everyone was eating, the three cotta chefs quietly approached the waddle dee and requested him to follow. No one paid attention to his sudden absence, unless you are a cyan cotta who decided to investigate.

"What did Miss Elline say back to you?" Shamorocka asked.

"She instantly said no while eyeing me suspiciously as if I'm intruding in her business. Which to be fair, I am but I'd never do this in any other circumstance."

The three chefs looked down in defeat. "Well, there goes our chance of watching Miss Elline draw in-person."

"Are you sure you're out of options?" Cyano spoke up, shocking Bandana Dee and the cottas.

"Wait, where did you come from?" Cyano appearing behind him was the last thing the waddle dee expected. Now he doesn't want to be thrown off by this cotta's strange antics again. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I've been busy picking the lock on the treasure chest. At this rate, I'll have it done by tomorrow." The cyan cotta replied sincerely.

"Oh, that's great then. But have you taken some sort of break? I mean, you can't have just been in your room the entire time we've been here… right?" the waddle dee questioned.

"If you want to watch Miss Elline, you should follow me after dinner." Cyano said, completely ignoring the question.

Bandana Dee blinked a few times at the sudden change of topics but he went along with it. "So where will we be going to?"

"To my room. It's right above Miss Elline's room, you could even see through the small holes on the ground."

"Wait but that room is empty." Shamorocka pointed out. "And you reside in there?"

"Half the time." The cyan cotta replied. "Other times I use it for when I do something, like building our rafts for sail in Indigo Ocean."

"_So that's who made that raft which made me seasick."_ Bandana Dee thought before thinking of another question. "Why are you helping us anyways?"

All eyes were concentrated on Cyano, yet his expression remained completely neutral. It seemed like he was thinking really hard to say the next sentence.

"It's... for my own reasons." Cyano turned around and walked away. "Just make sure Miss Elline doesn't notice you guys acting suspicious, especially you, bandana guy, like she is now." The cotta warned without turning around and walked back to his seat.

Elline was indeed looking at her waddle dee friend strangely. Bandana Dee gulped in slight fear, knowing that she's going to wonder what he's been doing away from her and Kirby.

"A-anyways, we all should know the plan. Meet us at the kitchen once everyone is finished so our brethren, Cyano, will tell us what to do." Shamorocka declared.

The group nodded before leaving for other destinations. Cyano watched Bandana Dee sit back at his seat to address Elline.

"What were you up to, Bandana Dee?" Elline curiously asked.

"Those cottas were talking to me about my trusty spear." He lied.

"Hmm…" Elline narrowed her eyes at him, making the waddle dee slightly nervous.

"It's true, Miss." Elline and Bandana Dee's eyes diverted to Cyano who stood right behind them. "I've been wondering how often he practices his spearplay since I first saw him earlier today. And I hardly had a chance to ask him until now."

"Hmm… okay, if you say it then I trust your judgement, Cyano." Elline concluded. "But where have you been today? The other cottas seemed nervous about mentioning you and your habits. You're the only cotta who chooses to stay isolated from everyone else, which is strange on its own. Everyone else here loves having each other as company."

Cyano stared at her for a few seconds before walking away to his seat without a word. For a brief moment, Elline could have sworn that she saw some sadness in his eyes.

"Poyo…?" Kirby said, finally taking his eyes off of his plate to notice what was going on.

"Everything about him is strange, from his cyan color to his personality." Bandana Dee voiced his thoughts.

"I don't think I'll be able to figure him out for a long time." Elline admitted.

The cyan cotta gazed at his meal. It was a simple salad that was freshly cut from the greens of one of the worlds.

_"Almost everyone is still a bit nervous around me. I don't blame them. It's not my fault that I have cyan skin."_ He thought to himself sadly. "_I don't think there will be any person out there that will truly understand how different I feel." _

* * *

The night sky in Blue Sky Palace is blanketed with many stars. Kirby and Elline stood in their room alongside the canvas stand Cyano brought back from the tower. The eager Kirby is holding a paintbrush that Elline lent him.

Elline smiled widely at this scenario. After being taught by Claycia all her life, it excited her that she became the teacher. And her student is someone who specifically asked her to teach him. The same student is someone who she considers her best friend and lo—someone she deeply cares for.

"So Kirby…" she paused to think. Up until this point, she only thought about teaching the puffball the basics but she never exactly thought of how to do that. In fact, she realized that she never taught anyone how to paint. All her basic skills were completely natural to her, so much so that explaining something easy is difficult.

"Poyo?" Kirby tilted his head, confused about her silence.

Elline snapped out of her thoughts and asked him a question that came on the whim. "Have you… ever painted something before?"

Kirby thought for a moment. The only thing that came to his mind was him recoloring Heavy Lobster. Yet, he has witnessed different types of paintings and painters in his adventures. Such as two sorceresses who specialize in art or his only human artist friend who accompanied him and others throughout Gamble Galaxy in search of crystal shards.

"So… no then." Elline said after no response.

Kirby didn't respond but it almost seemed like he had something to say which caused Elline to sigh. This might have become a lot harder than she initially anticipated a few seconds ago. Her mind began to drift to what she could do for a beginner and she remembered how Claycia help fine tune her already surprisingly developed artist skills some time ago.

"_Claycia."_ She thought before lightly shaking her head. "Okay, how about this." Elline said to get Kirby's attention. "How about you draw yourself? It should be easy for you." she suggested. "Just draw the circle, dot the eyes, add a great big smile and presto it's you!"

Kirby nodded and began drawing on the canvas. Elline immediately looked away from him. It's not that she didn't want to look at him, it's just that she'd rather see the finished product rather than watch a work-in-progress. Her eyes scanned the room around her, including the ceiling. The ceiling is strangely "bumpy" and Elline could have sworn she saw movement up there.

"Poyo." He announced as he finished the drawing, this snapped Elline out of her thoughts of the ceiling. The fairy flew over to it excitedly and widened her eyes at the result. For a beginner, he drew himself really well. However, the circle is far from smooth and his facial features and body parts were slightly out of place.

Anyone who didn't have a brain would laugh at the outcome. Elline on the other hand, smiled slightly. Seeing this image allowed her to get an idea of Kirby's drawing skills. Improving it will be easy to do!

"Okay, this is good." Kirby smiled brightly at her praise. "Now, do it again." He instantly frowned at her orders.

Elline didn't like the look he gave her. "D-d-don't get me wrong, this is great but if you want to improve, you have to repeat your drawings, starting with the simplest ones."

Convinced but still grumbled to himself, Kirby took the pencil and began drawing another circle on the same paper of the canvas. Elline analyzed his drawing movement.

She stopped him from moving to the eyes as he finished drawing the circle. The result of the circle is the same as the one before.

"Draw another one in place of this circle but hover the pencil above the paper, just enough to tap it." Elline said with a glint in her eye. Kirby looked at her confusingly. "Just do it. I know a way to help keep your circles stable." She winked.

"Okay…" he replied. He began to draw light circles around the dark one. After every cycle, he relaxed his arm to do the next one. For every circle drawn, he feels more accustomed to it. Both he and Elline are able to see the progress.

"Okay Kirby, you can stop." He did as what he was told and they both examined the paper. It was hard to tell because of all the overlapping circles but Kirby's circles were looking smoother than before.

Elline beamed at the fact that her plan is working so far. "Now try drawing yourself again. I won't watch you this time. Go for it!" she cheered.

"Poyo!" Kirby nodded and began drawing away. Elline flew back to her diary and wrote in it again. Once she stopped hearing the sound of a pencil on a paper, she looked up and flew back to Kirby's side.

The circle, while not perfect, is way, way smoother than the initial drawing. The skills carried over to his body parts. The sign of improvement shines above hitting perfection at the current time.

"Perfect! This is a great drawing, Kirby." Elline beamed at him, causing him to smile widely.

"Now then, how about you… uh…" She froze because she didn't think about what else she could have him do.

"Poyo." He pointed at her then to the portrait. Elline completely understood what he intended to do.

"Y-y-you want to draw me? I-I don't know about that…" she looked away nervously. "My shape is not as simple as a circle, you know?"

He smiled and faced the portrait. He readied a pencil and paintbrush on the empty paper before she could protest.

Elline glanced at her hands in embarrassment as Kirby took occasional glances at her for reference. She is so unsure of what to think of this but it was far too late to stop him. The good thing is that he's taken the initiative to draw something and learn more. The bad thing… is that she can't really think of a bad thing other than embarrassment. Once he placed the paintbrush to the side to signal that he is done, the fairy hesitantly flew over to the canvas to see the result.

Kirby presented a weird drawing of himself and Elline. Elline's hair was messy and all over the place. The eyes and mouth were misaligned and too much pink was drawn over her brooch. Despite the mess, what really caught her attention was his attempt at a background. Together, they were out on a grassy, sunny hill with some sort of messy-looking building in the far background. Even though she never talked about designing backgrounds or foregrounds, she could tell that he tried to create the three dimensional environment.

Elline's initial anxiety flushed away. She couldn't help but giggle after examining it for a while. "It's… great! You're a really good painter. I bet you will one day surpass me."

Kirby smiled widely at the praise she gave him.

"Now, it's my turn." She winked mischievously. "You drew me, now I'll draw you and more."

A few minutes later, Kirby witnessed a drawing of him standing in the middle of the portrait with a space background, alongside Elline and Bandana Dee. The seven worlds were lined up along the edges. The shadow of Claycia blended in the background of space.

Kirby was clearly flabbergasted at the result.

"What do you think? It's not my best work… I think. But I wanted to draw something like this for a while. The three of us, the seven worlds and… Claycia." She mentioned her name sadly but she kept her spirits up. "It's the perfect movie poster, I'd say."

"Draw more poyo." Kirby said, still flabbergasted.

"If you want me to, then I'll heed your wishes Kirby." Elline readied her pocket paintbrush.

Over time, Kirby watched in awe as she recreated some of the areas they've been through on paper such as the dry Yellow Dunes and exotic Blue Sky Palace. In each environment, she drew herself, Kirby and Bandana Dee exploring the region in a way that will match the canvas.

She eventually handed back the paintbrush to Kirby, claiming that there's no learning if you only watch. Elline instructed Kirby to draw the first thing that comes to his mind. As a result, he stood in front of the canvas to ponder. The fairy silently watched on from the corner, thinking about him.

Elline considered Kirby a great friend from the start because of what he went through for her. But she has yet to wonder who he really is. His "poyo" language makes it hard for her to know him well despite understanding him really well.

In the midst of her thoughts, she didn't realize that Kirby has drawn something on the canvas. It was only until the puffball dragged her to the portrait by hand was what got her attention. Of course, she blushed at the action.

There was a single red apple in the middle of the canvas. Elline had to blink a few times to realize that she sees what she sees.

"…May I ask why you drew this apple?" Elline scratched her head, expecting an answer.

Kirby silently stared at the portrait sadly. This apple was abruptly snatched from his hands from the effect of the Draining Light. And he swore to himself to not use his main abilities, such as his inhale, until he savors the taste of the specific fruit. But it's proving to be more difficult as they travel forward. Some enemies may require Kirby to break out of his own chains from here on out. It'll create a dilemma of whether or not if he would continue rolling like a bowling ball and using his physical strength of his attacks or become self-made transformations by eating his foes.

Elline was unaware of the turmoil going on in, but she thought that the apple is somehow important to him. She placed a hand onto his back and rubbed it in a circular motion to get his attention again. "Kirby, who are your other friends? A sweet guy like you would have more than just Bandana Dee back on Planet Popstar, right?"

The puffball finally broke his gaze from the hand drawn apple and stared at her in the eyes.

"Maybe you could draw them for me as a visual aid?" she asked sweetly.

Kirby nodded happily and began his drawing and coloring, already forgetting about the apple. It didn't take too long the design the two figures. One was holding a sword and looked similar to Kirby. Its eyes were obscured by a purple mask and it was apparently smiling in pride. The other is… an indescribable penguin-like creature.

Elline stood wide-eyed at the picture. To her, it was just scribbles of people she didn't know. It would be impossible for her to figure them out until they meet in person.

But he didn't stop there. Kirby continued by designing the background of his home, Dream Land. The area he was designing was Green Greens with Whispy Woods and the same messy looking castle in the far background which happens to be King Dedede's castle. Despite the poor drawing, she could perfectly understand the message Kirby was trying to convey. The fairy never got to experience Dreamland in full color. When she arrived, it was already a dead and lifeless land thanks to Claycia. When he finished, the puffball couldn't help but be sad that his home currently isn't the way he drew it.

Maybe one day, Elline would see Dreamland in its full color and spend time with Kirby there…

"Is that your home, bandana guy?" Cyano asked.

Shamorocka, Olive, Pear and Bandana Dee were spying on the duo through the various gaps in the bumpy cloudy ground. Cyano is more focused on picking the lock on the treasure chest but he checked in every once in a while.

"Yeah…" Bandana Dee responded sadly. "Right now, it's a dull and frozen wasteland. We're on this journey to restore our home and Seventopia."

"I'm sorry Kirby." Elline said truthfully, causing Kirby to be confused at her. "I could have stopped Claycia from draining the color of your home planet. But, I was too slow and foolish to do anything."

"Poyo…" Kirby mumbled. As if he said, "it's not your fault".

"Thank you, Kirby but it is my fault." Elline said. "If I noticed something was wrong back while we were sculpting Seventopia… then I…"

Elline felt a soft body wrap around her to stop her from talking. Knowing who it is, Elline returned the friendly gesture. She was able to calm down before any tears fell down her face.

"Yes… Kirby." She cooed. "We'll make things better for everyone. Tomorrow, we'll free the cottas from the thundercloud."

"Poyo!" Kirby said as he broke from the hug.

"Now, I think our lesson is over. You're a fast learner… _yawn…"_

"Poyoo…" Kirby yawned before he could intervene. He wanted to continue having fun with his friend. But both of them were tired and they needed the rest that is essential to saving Popstar and Seventopia.

"I hope we'll do this again Kirby. That was fun." She winked at him affectionately. Kirby slightly blushed in response. This didn't go unnoticed by the smiling fairy, giving her an idea.

"You know… there's something I've been meaning to give you, but I don't know if I want to wait…" she smiles mischievously and flies closer.

"She's not going to do it now…" Bandana Dee gasped and whispered.

"Will we witness what we think we will witness!?" Olive babbled.

"After this boring display… something exciting occurs!?" Pear mumbled.

"Quiet, you two!" Shamorocka scolded.

Elline slowly inched closer to Kirby who had his eyes wide open in surprise. Thoughts ran through each of their minds. In particular, Elline began having second thoughts about what she wants to do. This caused her to stop in the air and back away slowly,

"Poyo…?" Kirby was confused at what she was doing.

"Errm… sorry Kirby… I'm just tired. How about we go to sleep? We have another day tomorrow to reach Claycia." Elline moodily said as she flew to her bed to lay face down.

The oblivious Kirby shrugged before rolling to his bed. Upon contact of the bed, he instantly fell asleep.

On the other hand, Elline groaned in frustration. "Why did I hesitate? I could have given him something so nice…" Elline looked up from the cloudy mattress and over to the sleeping lovable pink puff. After a few moments, she smiled. "Maybe… another chance at another day. I hope that day will be soon."

In the room above, the cottas and Bandana Dee were stunned in silence.

"I… wish more could have happened." Shamorocka said.

"Seriously! Especially since the artwork was so boring…" Pear moaned, earning annoyed looks from everyone but Cyano.

"Boring is a bit of a stretch." Olive countered. "It's ART. Now that I think about it, drawing something shouldn't be the most fun thing to do."

"Hey guys, let's talk about this tomorrow. We're in another cotta's room after all." Shamorocka gestured to Cyano who was staring at the treasure chest.

Taking the cue, the cottas began leaving. Bandana Dee stayed. He nodded to the three chefs and watched them depart.

Cyano didn't turn around to wave at the cottas for some reason. Then again, Cyano is the most distinct cotta Bandana Dee has ever seen so far.

"Hey Cyano?" To Bandana Dee's surprise, he turned to face him and awaited his question. "Why did you help us like this?" He asked, before clarifying. "I'm not just talking about watching Elline teach Kirby. I'm talking about back in the tower where the Grab Hands appeared. You were the only cotta that came to our rescue."

The cotta was taken back by the thoughtful question. Bandana Dee could see his facial expression slightly change as he tried to word his response. "I… I don't know. I just… I just felt like I needed to help the mistress. It's probably the same reason to how I was the one who saw the chest fall from the sky, or why I journeyed to Indigo Ocean to hide and lock it and why I'm picking the same lock on this chest. Other cottas offered to help but I... declined because it's something I feel like I should do by myself. And besides... you guys seem to care about me a lot."

"Oh, that's… great." Bandana Dee said. "So, what are you going to do next?"

"Hmm…" Cyano mumbled. "I asked Kirby a question earlier, and then I learned about you right now. So I'll want to ask Miss Elline a question tomorrow."

"Wait, what did you learn from me?" Bandana Dee asked?

"You take action." Cyano vaguely replied.

"Wait what?"

"It's getting late, bandana guy. You should go." Cyano began pushing him out with his head. To Bandana Dee's surprise, he's pretty strong for his size. Once he was shoved out, Cyano closed the door softly and locked it.

The waddle dee scratched his head for a bit before departing.

* * *

"Miss…"

"-line"

Elline woke up from the bed and looked around. Kirby wasn't in the room, much to her surprise and Cyano is patiently standing by the bed's edge. Curious about why he's in here, she silently motioned him to speak.

"We've opened the chest, Miss Elline. Now we need you guys to see what's inside." He announced.

Elline's eyes perked up. "That's great! I'm excited to see it!"

The pair walked out of the room. But before they could get far, Cyano wanted to ask Elline something.

"What do you think… about Kirby?" he asked in a carefree manner.

"Not this again…" Elline blushed in a beet red. "Uh… well… I…?"

"What do you think about Kirby?" Cyano repeated.

"I care about him because he's my friend!" she yelled. "Now let's go please."

"Yes, Mistress." He replied in a cryptic tone.

Luckily, no one else heard them… except Bandana Dee and the three cotta chefs who were laughing hard and quietly in the hallway. Elline, Cyano and Kirby from elsewhere joined the company and walked towards the entrance.

"_So friends care about each other and understand each other."_ The cyan cotta thought. _"Kirby is someone Miss Elline cares for and Kirby clearly cares for her back. Bandana Dee is another good friend of theirs who always takes action to be noticed. I like that about him. I… I want a friend with all these qualities. That friend would understand my differences more than anyone…"_

* * *

"Hey guys, what's so funny!?" Elline asked in an angered manner.

Cyano and the chef cottas were walking alongside the trio in the hallway. Bandana Dee and the chef cottas were snickering suspiciously, making her uncomfortable.

"Oh, it's nothing at all, Miss." Shamorocka quickly pointed out

"No need to worry." Olive and Pear said.

"But there IS a need to worry. It's making me feel… nervous and suspicious." She mumbled.

"There's nothing to be nervous about, Elline." Bandana Dee jumped in. "I was just telling them about … some things." Bandana Dee inwardly panicked at the trap he set himself in.

"And what are those 'things'!?" she eyed him suspiciously.

"Uh, well I was telling them about you're amazing artistic skills and… how nice you look throughout our adventure." The waddle dee stuttered.

Kirby, who was humming a familiar tune to himself, turned to the waddle dee in interest but didn't say a word.

Despite her clear blush, Elline ignored his compliments. "You guys are hiding something."

Now the cottas and Bandana Dee were beginning to lose their cool. Cyano figured that Elline would catch on sooner than later.

"We're almost at the entrance, Miss Elline." Cyano announced as if he was oblivious to the tense situation.

Bandana Dee sighed in relief. Elline glared at him before turning to Cyano.

Shamorocka whispered in the waddle dee's ear. "At least you didn't blow our cover, but now she's got her eye on you."

Bandana Dee giggled. "Not for long. I've teased her a few times before and she got over it quickly..." After a moment of thought, his eyes became wide. "Then again, something good or bad always happens sometime after my teasing which makes her… forget..."

**Originally, I was going to append this to Stars and Storms. The reason why I didn't is because ****I didn't want to slow down the plot of the main story just for this event so I decided to make a separate chapter for it… roughly three years later.**

**The mix of ideas and web tangled plot must be evident all over this chapter. Regardless, I'm glad it is done for. It was one of the hardest chapters to write, hence why it never came out on time. (To be fair, when do I follow my set deadlines?)**

**Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! 2020 is the beginning of a new decade so let's all make it count!**


	3. The Sportle's Antics Part II

**I had this chapter scheduled for a February release but there were a lot of small revisions I had to do because I admittedly forgot I had teased part of what will happen here in the main story. Anyways, go and read this if you want to. With everything currently going on around the globe… it could be a nice way to fast forward time…**

**On another note... FANFICTION DOT NET FINALLY ADDED 'Elline' AND 'Claycia' AS CHARACTERS TO SEARCH FOR IN THE FILTERS. I MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SENT AN EMAIL REQUEST TO THEM TO DO THIS SOMETIME IN FEBRUARY BUT REGARDLESS I'M HAPPY THIS HAPPENED AFTER 5 YEARS OF WAITING!**

Hidden Chapter 3/13.5: The Sportle's Antics Part II

_"EHEHEHEHEHEHEE… EEEEHEHEHEHEHE… EEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEEE…"_

**_"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

_Thump* smash* pow* _

**_"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_**

Elline abruptly woke up from her slumber and looked around the room, taking deep breathes as she processes where she is right now.

Her room in the mansion contains her pink bed that she's colored long ago and a small desk with writing and drawing utensils. In addition, her Secret Diary resides on the desk, closed and locked. By the desk is a canvas stand devoid of drawings. And on the wall next to her bed contains crude drawings of friends and locations from her previous adventure.

Everything in the room is normal.

"That nightmare again…" Elline shuddered. "Why do I keep getting it? And what are those sounds I hear in it? They sound familiar…"

The fairy turned to the wall and stared at two drawings of Kirby and Bandana Dee. The image of them always makes her happy however…

…looking at Kirby's portrait strangely reminisced her with a tinge of nostalgia, and it's not from her recent adventure…

Disregarding the thoughts, Elline flew out of her bed with her hair as neat as a paintbrush tip and over to her desk. She slowly opened the diary to an empty page.

"Anything to get my mind off of that nightmare…" she muttered before she put the tip of the pencil on the page. It took a few moments for her to actually write something because even a special magical paintbrush fairy with a clay sculptress as a mentor/friend/sister can suffer from artist block…

_Claycia wanted to create a unique type of lifeform that's different than the cottas. But she didn't have a clear idea of a design, so she crafted whatever was on her mind while she sculpting Orange Woodlands. After I painted over it, we eventually witnessed the birth of the sportles. _

_The yellow variants (who I never saw until I climbed to the top of the Great Tree of Orange Woodlands) are very territorial but they are not wild or mean according to Claycia. She personally checked on them sometime after she returned to normal and told me everything about them. Anyways, they only become vicious when Dark Crafter reigned over the seven worlds. Even though Claycia didn't have a clear mind when she crafted them, she assumed that they'll overgrow their mindset and live with everyone else peacefully. _

"They're still nowhere to be found…_"_ Elline muttered out loud. "And the other cottas don't say a thing about them…"

_As we were observing the newly painted landscape, we saw something pink catch our eye. And no, it wasn't Kirby. It was our first viewing of a sportle. A mischievous sportle who we eventually learned that she scares all the cottas who walk around Mushroom Hills with her various pranks that involve her stretching tentacles. _

_It did not take her long to notice Claycia and I watching her from afar. I was nervous when she was heading in our direction but Claycia was... smiling. She WANTED to meet the creature that she created... but I didn't because her behavior is so weird. So I didn't pay much attention to their conversation. I heard her name and I introduced myself but that was it. As the two talked to each other, I sneaked away without them noticing._

_Later on in our journey, I wasn't thinking about Mimosa until we arrived in the world. But I assumed the bad happened due to everyone else on the seven worlds followed a horrible fate. That is, until she was following Bandana Dee and according to him, she saved him from falling off the waterfall._

Elline stopped writing and stared at the page she wrote in. Any more thoughts to put on the paper were shrouded in her mind. She then contemplated going back to sleep but…

"…the nightmare…" she shuddered. "I'm... I'm scared..."

She turned to an earlier page in her Secret Diary and began reading the contents she wrote and drew from a recent time...

* * *

As they climbed down the tree, they all noticed that the rainbow bridge was extended from the tree trunk and continued into the sky. Not too long later, they hit solid ground and followed the sportle to her burrow as the sun began to set...

"I'm never riding a gondola ever again." Bandana Dee moaned out loud. Kirby offered a sympathetic pat on his back, one that he gratefully accepted.

"Hopefully you won't need to, Bandana Dee. But… what if we come across a path where the only way across is by gondolas?" Elline asked while crossing her arms.

Beads of sweat formed on his back as the waddle dee struggled to think of a response. "I'll… uh… find a way across…" Bandana Dee shivered slightly as Elline flew close to him with narrowed eyes of skepticism.

"Have you fellows ever wondered about why there's so much water in the midsection of the giant tree?" Mimosa asked, apparently oblivious to the playful tension between Bandana Dee and Elline.

"Poyo." Kirby nodded.

"N-now that you mention it, it doesn't make any sense for there to be so much water built up in that giant tree." Bandana Dee said, thankful that the sportle changed the subject.

"Because that tree was modified into a tree fort by the dangle sloths with their leader's guidance." Mimosa replied. "They use the water inside for whatever they use it for so they don't ever need to go outside. Yet, those bozos do so anyways. But forget about that because we are here!"

True to her word, the trio and Mimosa arrived back in the open area surrounding Mimosa's burrow. Earlier, the place was bombarded with bomb explosions, destroying the surrounding fungi. Now, most of it has already grown back, as Mimosa stated after the incident.

The trio enters Mimosa's burrow for the second time today. Now that they weren't under pressure of being blown to bits, they could get a good look at the home. There wasn't much to the current room they are in. There is a single hallway that extends further inside which is something the trio didn't pay much attention to before.

"Welcome fellows, to my very own burrow, my cozy cave!" Mimosa exclaimed. "Allow me to give you three a tour!" The sportle clears her throat. "As you can see, this is the lobby. Nothing special here, just one couch large enough for the three of you to sit on together."

"Why are there buttons on these couch arms?" Bandana Dee asked.

"Oh those… press them to find out!" she chirped.

The waddle dee did exactly that. The result was instantaneous as two pairs of binoculars dropped from the ceiling. In shock, Bandana Dee turned to Mimosa who only kindly gestured him to look through one of them.

When Bandana Dee looked into them, he saw an overview of Mushroom Hills from a high up angle which means the periscope is hiding somewhere high by the waterfall.

"I have a lot of spare time to myself." The sportle shrugged. "I needed to stay constantly alert for those annoying sloths."

Elline looked into the other binoculars out of curiosity. Her view of the world is different from the waddle dee. She could see the forest on top of the cliff and the waterfall that follows the river into the giant tree.

"I even manage to get another view of my home from the tree. That's how I was able to spot you, Bandana Dee. If I wasn't on my binoculars, who knows what would have happened to you."

"It would have been a terrible fate for me." The waddle dee shivered at the thought.

"Now let's continue on with the tour!" Mimosa closed both binoculars simultaneously and pushed the trio ahead of her, much to their discomfort.

"There are two rooms facing each other in this hallway. Those are spare bed rooms I just happen to have for this occasion!"

The trio entered one of the rooms. This room had a single porch swing bed that's made out of rope. Then they went into the in the other one where there is a lone small table with a soft mat to sit on. There was also a single porch swing bed made out of rope.

"I like it! I'll be in this room." Bandana Dee announced after a quick look around.

"Good! I was going to lend you the other room with the swing but this works too. Kirby can have that room instead."

"Poyo!" Kirby nodded.

"Where will I sleep?" Elline asked.

"You… will sleep in the room just up ahead. Follow me."

The trio closes the doors and follows the wacky sportle. Not too far away, there is a lone room. The difference between this room and the previous two rooms is that this has a red blanket blind that conceals the entrance alongside a door. Mimosa opened the blanket blinds and revealed Elline's loaned room. This room has a chandelier and a pink couch that's perfect for sleeping. It also has a table large enough for her to use for her artwork.

The trio weren't surprised that Mimosa prepared a more exquisite room for Elline. They were surprised at the fact that she had everything planned from before they even met her.

Mimosa knew they had an unvoiced question. "I had these spare rooms made for if I ever have any sort of company here. _It can get pretty lonely here sometimes._" The sportle slightly shook her head at the thought. "I was prepared for the possibility of having Mis- _ahem-_ Elline be in my burrow too."

_"Even Mimosa feels obligated to express gratitude to Elline. Not on the level of the cottas though but still."_ Another thought crossed the waddle dee's mind. "Why didn't you call her 'Miss'?

"Now if you will stay here for the night, there are some rules you must follow." The sportle giggled gleefully, completely ignoring the question Bandana Dee asked her. Elline and Kirby bore a look of confusion while Bandana Dee suddenly looked really apprehensive.

Simultaneously, Mimosa brought out eight flashlights from hammerspace and juggled them in perfect sync. After a few seconds of showing off, she tossed them one by one into the air with some precision to make them land upside down on the ground side by side. Each color is different: green, yellow, indigo, blue, orange, red, purple and pink.

"Ta-daaa!" Mimosa exclaimed with eyes closed.

When the trio didn't respond with any noise, Mimosa opened her eyes and averted her gaze to them. They were in shock, yes, but confused to why she did this.

"…Is there a reason why I hear no clapping?" Mimosa mumbled, showing a rare sign of anger.

Bandana Dee spoke first after clearing his throat. "Well, you, uh, said you were going to tell us some rules to follow…"

The sportle blinked twice before making her mouth into the 'o' shape. "…Right, I was about to get to that. I was having too much fun with myself!" The trio sweat dropped instantly.

"Anyways! These are my special flashlights. You'll need them for when it gets dark later on. I'll loan you three of these… except…" the sportle picked up the pink flashlight and hid it behind her back. "…Not this one but any of the seven colors."

Elline chose the yellow one, Kirby chose the purple one and Bandana Dee chose the blue variant.

"Now then…" her voice and tone suddenly became serious. "If you somehow lose my special lights during your time here, then I'll show you the meaning of true pain! Got it?" she winked at the last sentence. The trio quickly nodded simultaneously. "Good! Now I go to my room. I'll be right back to tell you more things. Holler if you need anything!" With that, the sportle flew out of their sights and down the hall.

"Poyo…?" The puffball was already curious on where the sportle went.

"One thing's for sure, we better not lose these." Bandana Dee gulped. "Judging by how she enjoys using me like a ragdoll, I can't imagine what else she'll do to me..."

Since they had nothing else to do at the moment, the trio walked back at the living room and sat on the couch.

"The cottas were definitely referring Mimosa as the 'mysterious creature'. I'm sure of it." Bandana Dee thought out loud. "Now I see why the cottas are afraid of coming here."

"_I was kind of scared too. But she isn't so bad after all. Just... misjudged..."_ The fairy thought. "…But what about Cyano?" Elline slowly became curious at her own question. "Actually… yeah… what about Cyano? How would he react to seeing Mimosa for the first time?"

Kirby got off the couch and stood in front of the two. "Poyo! Poyoyooo! Poyo!" Kirby imitated the cyan cotta and sportle first encounter in the best way he can. The basic idea is that Mimosa will appear out of nowhere and drag him somewhere after being acquitted with him.

"Hmm… I don't know Kirby. I think even he would be scared to have someone immediately tower over him." Elline said.

"I think Kirby might be on to something but then again, Cyano is mysterious." Bandana Dee shrugged. The other two nodded.

* * *

The feeling of dread surrounds Cyano.

Not just because of his intuition predicting a possible imminent threat approaching the Sky Cotta Colony based on what he saw earlier in the day, but because he felt like he was just mentioned and even impersonated out of context.

"P-p-p-please… l-l-let it all be over… _ahh-chuuu_!" the cotta shivered in the corner of his lone room, by a secret exit known to one and only one.

* * *

The trio remained in place, thinking about all the events that have transpired. In particular, Elline began to think about the time they've spent on Green Valley to now. From how they fought and defeated Whispy Woods, to relaxing on the beach for a time to now relaxing in the home of a sportle after a few hours of journeying through Orange Woodland. Later on… they'll have to traverse through the inactive Red Volcano and then…

Elline's optimistic mood suddenly dropped.

"She probably thinks I'm a common species… which I am but… I'm special in my own way!" Bandana Dee puffed his chest out, spiking Elline's curiosity and pulling her out of her moody thoughts.

While those two began to converse, Kirby got off the couch and went down the hallway. He passed by Elline's room and continued deeper in until he reached the last room in the hallway. He could hear some sort of an argument leak from the slightly opened door. His curiosity allowed him to open the door into Mimosa's Secret Room (which has one large table with a chandelier hanging above it) and saw something he'd never thought he'd see.

There were not one but two pink sportles. Both share similar appearances to Mimosa but these clones had a singular eye, four tentacles and are roughly half the original's size. They didn't notice Kirby standing dumbfounded at the entrance because they were too caught up in their argument.

"Did you have to be THAT threatening to them!?" 1

"Of course I did, you know how long it took for me to find these flashlights!" 2

"I KNOW that but they don't KNOW that." 1

"Yeah they don't which is why I—" 2

"Poyo…?"

Both clones nervously turned to Kirby where the latter had a really confused look on his face. Wanting to avert the confusion, the two clones eyed each other and nodded.

"Hello Kirby!" The clones zoomed into his personal space before he could move. "We are one and the same and the same and the one! We share the same mind, speech, power, skills and charming looks but not the same idea! We're more mobile like this but our combined self is stronger and smarter and charming. We despise staying out like this because we despise each other, so we'll merge sooner than later! We only have each other for company and no one else but that's okay because pink should, can and will drive away anything threatening if your name starts with an M-I-M-O-S-A!"

Kirby blinked multiple times to process what just occurred in front of him. One moment, the clones were arguing with herself and the next moment she monologue perfectly in sync.

"Also…" The Mimosa clones flew in even closer in his intimate space and stared into his eyes. "…Promise to me that you'll never speak of this to anyone!"

"Okay…" he agreed with a moment's hesitation.

"Good! Now please leave, I was just discussing topics with myself!" Before Kirby could move, the two clones pushed him out of the door with their tentacles. Once he was thrown out, they shut and locked the door.

Kirby sat on the ground, in the position he landed on to contemplate the events that occurred.

"Okay, well, let's have a mutual agreement NOT to argue like this when we have guests over." 2

"Fine… only because we need to go harvest the fruits tonight." 1

"Oh yeah, let's go do that now!" she said at once.

The two clones merged into one and flew out of the burrow through a secret exit.

"Kirby you look like you saw a ghost." Elline remarked as the puffball appeared in the living room.

"Poyo!? No! No…!" the puffball rapidly shook his head.

"Kirby, is everything alright?" Elline inquired.

"Poyo!" he nodded quickly although too quickly for his liking.

"The little guy's fine. Right now, we got other business to do." Mimosa said from out of nowhere.

Elline and Bandana Dee nearly fell out of their seats at the surprise pop up. On the other hand, Kirby had beads of sweat on his face. And it worsened as the sportle looked at him care-freely. The other two didn't notice his dilemma because they weren't looking at the puffball.

"I missed the perfect window of forest foraging because of our little adventure today. So I'll make up the lost time with a six extra hands. All the hands 'round here total to fourteen, which is more than enough."

"You… didn't tell us what we'll do with our hands." Bandana Dee stated.

"Right!" the sportle laughed. "We go outside now and I'll show you then."

Kirby inwardly sighed in relief as they went outside. Now he doesn't need to worry about telling them what he saw. Unknown to him, the waddle dee and fairy still had the subject on the back of their minds and decided to ask him more about it later if they remember to.

"Now then…" Mimosa looked at the sky and noticed the sun is touching the horizon. "Your job is to help me forage for the fruit located on this world. That way, we have food on the table for a party tonight!" she said gleefully.

"A party?" Bandana Dee questioned.

"Oh, no, not a party. Just a meal to eat!" she clarified, much to the dismay of the trio.

"How do you know there will be something to find?" Elline asked, almost smirked at her own question.

"Because the fruits in this area grow back overnight, so I never run out of supplies. It's the perfect getaway for a vacation!" she chirped.

Elline smiled. "Claycia made sure that the food in Seventopia is plentiful when we were creating it. I'm glad it's working out for you."

"I'm glad too but we've wasted too much time." Mimosa extended her eight tentacles in eight different directions. "Split up and search for those fruits! Go, go, gooooo!"

The sudden command caused the trio to immediately split up without thinking. Kirby ran into a nearby bush and vanished, Elline flew behind the burrow and began her search there and Bandana Dee ran off towards the Great Tree.

Kirby weaved his way through several bush twigs in great haste. After reaching through one bush, he climbs into another to repeat the process. Eventually, he encountered the waterfall at the bottom of the cliff where a group of lost dangle sloths were regrouped at.

The puffball rolled to the water's edge to see the commotion. One sloth noticed the puffball and recognized him. Alerting the others, the dangle sloths glare at Kirby, making him stop and show a serious expression.

The sloths then charged at him simultaneously, hoping to pay him back for destroying their leader. Kirby moved slowly before picking up the pace and readied himself for a fight.

* * *

The growth of the various mushrooms and plants seem to be healthier than normal, based on the deeper red hue of the mushroom tops.

Which to say, it surprised Elline because something like this has never occurred in the world. What's even more interesting is the small crater that the plants and fungi surrounded. After looking at the crater, Elline put two and two together.

"This is where the treasure chest fell to." Elline muttered. "…Right by Mimosa's burrow too. She must have gotten a rude awakening." The fairy giggled at the thought before moving closer to examine the crater.

"When the star crashed, some of its energy spread out into the nearby area. Maybe that's why nature around here feels so… pure." She concluded.

The fairy pulled out the Indigo Star and admired it. Its color radiated like a pulse but the brightness is very low. "Kirby's planet color really is amazing…" Elline frowned to herself. "But… seeing all this…" Elline looked around the area one more. "…and witnessing what Claycia is doing…" she looked in the direction of Purple Fortress before sighing and putting away the marvel object.

Mimosa was flying above the mushroom heads while carrying some unique Seventopia fruit. As she hummed to herself, she noticed Elline staring at the crater where she found the treasure chest.

"There's so much on my mind." The fairy muttered. "Every time I think about Claycia, it makes me unsure about what to feel about all this."

"Elline? You found the crater where I found the crashed star?" The sportle landed in front of her with a neutral expression.

Elline wordlessly nodded. The trained eyes of the wild sportle noticed something was different about her creator.

"Is… there anything wrong?" Mimosa asked with genuine concern.

The tone of voice surprised Elline because it lacked the usual energy and mischievous tone it had. Still, she didn't want to bring it up because it is an admittedly nice change of pace to see her so passive and calm.

"I'm just thinking about things, that's all." Elline replied. Surprisingly, the sportle didn't press for a more engaging reply. Rather, she just nodded and looked up. "Anyways, the sun is setting soon so I need to find fruits for you." The fairy said before flying off into the bushes.

"How interesting…" The sportle thought. "She's just like Claycia when it comes to thinking. They stare off into space as if the solution will come to them." The sportle began moving to her burrow. "Though… in this case… the solution to whatever problem she has is someone who is pink and not me." Mimosa giggled lightly. "Little Kirby will do anything to make her happy, I'm sure of it."

* * *

The last dangle sloth fades into clay and dissolves. With a breath of relief, Kirby sits down near the water's edge to relax before he keeps going.

As his eyes scan the area for any more potential trouble, he notices a destroyed blue gondola on the other side of the river. The gondola is riddled with holes and the zip-line has been torn off. This is Bandana Dee's gondola that fell with him into this river.

As he looks over the damaged seat, he is instantly reminded of the times where he and at the time, Waddle Dee, would hop onto boats, mine carts and sleds to traverse areas quickly. It was never safe but the two always had a laugh at the end, much to the dismay of a certain pink haired fairy and human artist with a red beret who both didn't want them to ride those things. Besides, they always found a shard or two so the experience was totally worth it.

Even now, the experience with gondolas led them all to the second Star. Despite what Bandana Dee promised earlier about never wanting to ride these again, Kirby hopes that the waddle dee still had the thrill of the action from that last adventure when it came to vehicles such as this. The pair has had worse crashes than this. At least, he thinks so.

"Kirby…!" a familiar voice calls to him, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Poyo!" The puffball greeted Elline who simply waved back.

"Have you found anything, Kirby?" she asked.

The puffball responded by pointing at Bandana Dee's gondola right behind him.

"Bandana Dee's gondola..." she replied in surprise. "Well, I found the crater where the Star landed and the area around it blossomed with nature life."

Kirby widened his eyes in surprise.

"It's beautiful but…" Elline looked away sadly. Kirby noticed this of course. "Never mind that, we should… stick together and see what we could find, okay?"

"Poyo…" Kirby nodded and scratched the back of his head. Why did Elline seem less energetic than normal? She's usually talkative around him.

"Great! Let's… keep going." She replied as she flew ahead, with Kirby rolling after her.

* * *

Bandana Dee breathed in and out deeply, taking in the fresh air with every step. A nice stroll around the Mushroom Hills is just what he needed, especially after everything that happened today. The sun was very close to setting and the blanket of darkness was just about to cover the night sky. Still, there was plenty of light from the fading sunlight and stars above to make his flashlight not be used for now.

The waddle dee arrived at the rainbow bridge, which is right in front of the entrance to the Great Tree. As he observes the phenomenal beauty, a few yellow sportles observed him from the surrounding environment. They silently growled because they recognize that he was the intruder who aided the 'un-native pink thing' as they would call her in their tongue.

Once the sun set completely, they made their presence known to the waddle dee. They appeared in numbers from their hiding spots and surrounded him, growling intensely.

"Not these guys again…" Bandana Dee readied his spear. "Just don't let the spore touch me and I should be fine…"

"That's the way I think each time I fight them!" An all too familiar voice yelled. The yellow sportles growled even more, recognizing the being who said that.

Mimosa appeared from the sky and landed beside the waddle dee with her bouncing energy back. "There's something I forgot to mention to you about these sportles, little dee."

"And that is…" he asked. "Oh, and don't call me 'little'!"

"They hate direct light… a lot." Mimosa flashed her five flashlights at any sportle she saw, blinding them instantly. Sooner than later, they exploded into the yellow spore dust. The remaining sportles scampered off before they became victims.

Mimosa cleared her throat. "In addition, the supplementary side effects of coming in contact with the yellow pollen or spore dust or whatever you wish to call it other than temporary blindness include nausea, trouble vomiting, stomach cramps… etc. etc."

Bandana Dee raised an eyebrow. "What you said sounds like it came from a script."

"I've heard those lines too many times somewhere but that's not the point!" Mimosa put away her flashlights. "You must be constantly vigilant! Always!" She emphasized that last point by lightly tapping him on his forehead, making him flinch slightly.

Bandana Dee blinked at the sudden change of topics, not including the fact that he's still bizarre by her unknown skill.

"These yellow sportles appear in numbers after sunset. It's not a problem for me since I stay in my burrow but they make a lot of annoying noise as time goes on, so I scare them away with flashlights. Speaking of which…" The sportle almost glared at the waddle dee. "Do you still have my flashlight?"

Bandana Dee quickly pulled it out and turned it on to show that it works.

"Good!" she chirped. "You're off the hook for now."

"What do you mean, 'for now'? Are you going to interrogate me even more sometime later?" Bandana Dee gulped.

"Doesn't matter! We'll talk more, later. There's a place up ahead that contains a bunch of wondrous Seventopian fruit."

"Where are we heading to?" the waddle dee clarified.

"It's around the tree. It shouldn't take too long to clear the rest of the yellow sportles so times-a-wastin!" Before Bandana Dee could protest, the sportle grabbed and held him before taking off into the woods.

"You know I can waaalk!" he moaned, much to the grin of the pink sportle.

* * *

Kirby and Elline returned to the burrow with their stash of fruits. Elline was surprised to see Kirby restrain himself from devouring it all.

"It doesn't seem like anyone's home yet." Elline said the obvious.

"Poyo!" Kirby agreed.

"Well Kirby, if you need anything, I'll be in my room…" The fairy flew off before Kirby could say anything.

Her actions started to worry Kirby now. Whenever she's around him, she'd always have something to say to him and he enjoyed that. But now, she's been distant from even him. She didn't try to make much of a conversation with him as they searched the area together.

Still, as much as it saddened him, he'd have to give her space. With a sigh, the puffball looked at the couch and pressed the button to drop the binoculars, then looked through them to see where the other two are.

* * *

Back outside, a certain waddle dee and a unique sportle continued their exploration of a small forest behind the Great Tree to gather more fruits. As Bandana Dee picked the last apple in the tree, he hears shuffling in the nearby bushes. With a gulp, he shines his flashlight on the bush which stopped moving before he did the action.

The waddle dee slowly backs up with his eyes peeled ahead, eventually backing up into something big and soft. Bandana Dee slowly turned around to see Mimosa who is upside down so they would be at literal eye level for whatever reason.

"Where are you going?" Mimosa asked somewhat suspiciously.

"No-nowhere…" he gulped. The sportle moved closer to him and stared at him intently.

The waddle dee knew that look in the short time he got to know the weird sportle. "What are you eyeing at this time?" Bandana Dee sighed. "You can see the flashlight in my hands."

"Can I borrow your spear again?" she asked quickly.

"No! Way!" Bandana Dee answered swiftly. "…At least you asked this time instead of swiping it."

"Aww, why not?" the sportle pleaded. She rotated her body by 180 degrees to be right side up again.

"Because it's my trusty spear that's made just for me and only me." he replied sternly.

"Okay well…" The sportle remained silent for a few seconds to think. "If I tell you my biggest secret, you hand me your spear? Deal? Okay good!"

"Wait, I didn't—"

"It's a lonely place here. Sometimes, I think the cottas and monsters are scared of my appearance. Which is why I think those dangle sloths would destroy a part of Mushroom Hills just to get rid of my home. It may not seem like a big deal because the mushrooms grow back the next day but… when we defeated their leader today, I can finally rest easy. Why? Because those buffoons won't come back, that's why!" She grinned after the last sentence. "So thanks you guys, for all your help. I really appreciate it!"

Bandana Dee blinked, still trying to process the information she just gave him. She randomly opened up to him and thanked him and his friends for what they did. Yet, a few seconds ago, she was acting wacky.

"What? You told me what was going on in YOUR mind so I should share something that went on in MY mind. I do really mean it, BanDee!"

Bandana Dee twitched his eye violently. He's felt annoyance from being called 'little', 'common', or 'Hat Goomba' but never felt any real anger because he's dealt with those remarks for a long time. And he's proven in the past that he is not any of those comments those offenders gossiped about him. However, this was different. "Don't… call… ever… me… that!" he hissed, making Mimosa wide eyed at his reaction. "Only... one... person… can... call... me... that!"

The sportle did everything in her power to keep her face stoic. Without trying too, she has crossed a line. "S-say… who is that one person, little dee?" Asking this was a gamble. Prying into the information of the person who calls him an admittedly cute nickname may not be the best choice. Yet it was a choice she was willing to risk.

The waddle dee relaxed and took a deep breath. "We haven't seen each other in a while. She's an artist like Elline."

"Other artists like Claycia and Elline exist?" The sportle replied with intrigue, in addition, smiling internally because her gamble paid off.

"Yeah, but Kirby has seen a lot of them in his adventures... hey why are you asking me all these questions?" The waddle dee narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well… simply… I don't know…" The sportle began to get nervous before another light bulb went off in her head. "Speaking of Elline, was she acting different than usual when you guys were sitting on my couch?

"I saw her suddenly become sad out of the corner of my eye. But I didn't think much about it because of my other thoughts." Bandana Dee said after a moment of deliberation.

"Yeah… it could screw up my… ideas of getting those two together." Mimosa chuckled.

The waddle dee instantly knew what she meant. "It could still happen you know." Mimosa eyed him to make him continue. "Elline likes to think about things when no one is looking or is alone. That could mean… way late at night."

"Awww… but I have to get my rest for the next day… no fair…" Mimosa pouted. "There's always next time… maybe…"

"Maybe… what?"

"Maybe… we should head back right now and show off our stash!" The sportle grabbed the waddle dee again, much to his discomfort and flew off. "With all our food items, I'll pick out what we'll eat for dinner."

* * *

_I really wasn't in the best of moods earlier but I do eventually join Kirby on the couch and I talk to him about Orange Woodland's ecosystem. I also try to ask him about what he saw down the corridor earlier but like before, he seals his mouth._

_Mimosa eventually appeared into the burrow while holding a green-faced Bandana Dee upside down then dropped him like a ragdoll once she noticed Kirby and me relaxing on the couch. _

_Anyways, she made all of us to follow her to the party room as she would call it. Then she dumped the stash of fruits and mushrooms we all brought back onto the table._

_We were all hungry, yes, but this nature was totally different than how the Sky Cottas handled serving food. It didn't matter too much to us though, especially Kirby, who began to gobble up the meal like the silly glutton he is. There was plenty for all of us, he made sure of that. Though, I found it strange that Kirby went out of his way to not eat the apples on the table._

_Still though, his gluttony always makes me laugh. I love him so much… as a... friend… Teehee._

* * *

Kirby pulled out the flashlight loaned to him and placed it on the table. Before he could even blink, a pink tentacle swiped it out of his vision and had it hung on the chandelier, alongside the remaining flashlights.

"Good, Kirby. You still have my flashlight." Mimosa said before slightly glaring at him. "If you lost it, I wouldn't be very happy with you…"

Kirby could only tilt his head at her response. Bandana Dee gulped twice and Elline blinked out of curiosity.

* * *

_We had a great time though. Even though things are happy now, I can't imagine how tomorrow would be. In fact, it's all I was thinking about. I didn't think anyone notices me getting distant at the time… _

* * *

"Poyo…" Kirby cooed, completely stuffed.

"You said it. Those fruits are tasty!" Bandana Dee said.

"You have a better cherry-picking eye than me." Mimosa said.

"It's a trait I pick up from years of experience in nature!" the waddle dee proclaimed.

"Well, you have to tell me those tricks sometime. No use hoarding it all for yourself." Mimosa said.

"I thought I told you everything earlier?"

"YOU thought? Don't you mean, 'Yes, I have any more tips to share!'?" Mimosa leaned in.

"…Nothing comes to mind… I'll don't think I'll think of something later." Bandana Dee shrugged.

Elline stood up after being silent for so long. "You and Bandana Dee really got a good harvest. My tummy is about to burst. There's something I need to get from my room, so I'll be right back."

"Hmm… what's on her mind? What do you think Kirby?" Mimosa turned to him.

"Poyo…" Kirby shrugged and looked sad.

"I figured as much." She said. Before the sportle could ask or rather… interrogate Kirby, the puffball yawned for a few seconds and stared at the entrance. Elline came right back to her seat with her diary behind her back. Right as she sat down, Kirby stood up and left.

"It's pretty late and he's exhausted." Bandana Dee clarified before she could say anything.

Elline pouted childishly. "No fair, there was something I wanted to ask him about and I wasn't able to due to… well… stuff…"

Mimosa smirked, now she'll interrogate her instead. "And what kind of stuff did you want to ask him about…?" Truthfully, she wanted to ask about what's been on her mind but priorities are priorities.

"Umm…" she blushed. "Just… about something… about… his uh…"

"His… what?" The sportle leaned in.

"His… his… origins…!" she said half-heartedly.

"Uh-huh…" Mimosa said sarcastically.

"It's… true." She half lied again. "I mean, where did he come from?"

"In Elline's defense…" Bandana Dee started. "I don't know of Kirby's origins as well. He and I became best friends long after he first arrived on Dreamland."

"S-see?" she gestured to the waddle dee. "Kirby has a huge mystery around him and I want to unravel that!"

"Hmm…" Mimosa nodded to herself, while crossing her upper tentacles like they were arms. "Okay, you convinced me on that." The sportle quickly uncrossed her upper tentacles. "Well, no, you didn't actually. But what you said did open up floodgates for a detective to solve. And that detective's name is Mistress Elline."

"D-did… you just call her 'Mistress', like the cottas?" Bandana Dee gasped. Mimosa instantly went pale.

"Umm… a-a-a-anyways, you all need to wake up early tomorrow so it's time to go to sleep now! Chop, chop! To your rooms, soldiers!" Despite it being a command, the sportle flew out of the party room and vanished, leaving a chuckling Bandana Dee and a deep in thought Elline.

"She's not wrong. I'll be going to bed too. Good night, Elline." Bandana Dee got off his seat and walked into the hallway.

Once she was sure they were gone, Elline put her Secret Diary on the table and stared at the cover. Eventually, she stood up and flew to Kirby's room, whose door is wide open. The fairy peeked in and watched him peacefully sleep, which made her smile.

"_He looks so peaceful… so cute…"_ she thought before leaving the room and closing the door. Kirby slowly opened one eye immediately upon hearing the sound of a door closing.

* * *

_Afterwards, we all decided to go to bed when Kirby fell asleep first. Mimosa and Bandana Dee went to their rooms to sleep but I stayed awake. Kirby looks so cute when he sleeps. I could watch him all night but I need my rest too._

_Any time there are things on my mind during the night, I go to an open clearing and look towards the stars. It always keeps me calm. Since Bandana Dee and Mimosa took care of all the monsters that would gather at night, it is completely safe. The Orange Woodlands night sky is a beautiful sight too. The sky helps clear my troubled mind about Claycia and her actions._

_In the past two times I've briefly stargazed on this adventure, everyone is asleep and tonight is no exception… or that's what I thought. This time, someone I wasn't expecting joins me…_

* * *

Elline flew down the hallway as silent as her wings can be. She assumed that everyone would be in deep sleep after the events of today. She moved through the living room and to the entrance door. The fairy opened the door, slipped through and closed it quietly, hoping that the door creaks didn't cause too much noise.

Unknown to her, a figure was watching her from the shadow. He was on the verge of falling back asleep too, since it is so late at night and he had no idea when she would come. His eyes scanned the door, leaving him with one objective.

He saw Elline sitting on the top of a red mushroom in front of him. Despite some inner protest, he floated up there and landed a good distance behind her. The fairy was lost in her thoughts so she couldn't notice or hear him approaching.

"We're almost there, Claycia." Kirby heard her say to herself. "My friends and I will stop you before something bad happens. Even if that means…"

"Hi… Elline…" Kirby said slowly, causing the fairy to become startled.

"Waah!? Kirby!?" she turned around instantly. "What are you doing here? I thought no one would follow me."

"Sorry… poyo" he said with guilt before turning back.

"Wait..!" she called out to halt him in his tracks. "Umm… it's okay, actually. You… you can stay with me, Kirby."

Kirby turned back around fully and smiled. She motioned him to sit by her by tapping the area next to her. The puffball didn't hesitate to walk over and sit by the fairy. Once he was settled, Elline focused her gaze back into the starry sky.

"…I really like to stargaze by myself. It helps me wash away my worries and think about the good things. And it's been really helpful, especially after what we found out today about what Claycia is doing." Elline said. Kirby turned to her to listen more.

"Before Seventopia, Claycia and I were roaming the galaxy in search of a home for not just us but for all the wandering travelers in the galaxy. Eventually, we decided to create our own planetary system. Considering how we went practically everywhere since I joined her, I'm surprised it took us this long to use our own powers to create life…"

"mmm…" Kirby hummed, lost in his thoughts.

"You know… I don't think I told you about the Claycia I knew or the reason why we created Seventopia, did I?"

Kirby shook his head and prompted her to continue.

"You see, Claycia's past is a mystery to me. She never talks or thinks about it. Instead, she looks towards tomorrow. I believe that mindset is what allowed Seventopia to be what it is now. In her own words, she told me this, 'The worlds of the future will cast a rainbow of hope after the gloomy rainstorm of the past ends. From there, A Rainbow Tale will be told for the people of tomorrow.'"

Kirby was awestruck by the quote. Elline didn't notice his expression as she continued speaking while looking at the stars.

"Claycia always likes to discover new things and learn about them. Because of this, Claycia has imbued mysterious powers over Seventopia and she knows the secrets of all of them for the most part."

"Mysteries poyo?"

"Yeah! For instance, one incredible mystery of Seventopia would be the rainbow bridges that link all the worlds together. They could never be destroyed; only taken down temporary until they are restores them. Yet, it takes two or three minutes to walk on the bridge to the next planet. The planets are further apart from each than you realize. You would have to see it from outside the Seventopia system to really see how far each planet is from each other." The fairy turns back to Kirby with a wide smile. "Did you notice the lack of a sun near Seventopia, yet there are days and nights on all the planets?" she gushed. "I could tell you the secret to that but that won't be fair. Teehee."

Kirby smiled subtly. It seems like talking about the past has brought her back from her gloomy mood. Ironically, she was just talking about how Claycia would rather move forward to create a bright future after leaving behind the gloomy past.

"...Claycia is a clay sculptress whose curiosity is the size of our entire galaxy. She just loves exploring or investigating ideas and topics she doesn't know about." Elline smiled. "If there's something she's never seen before, she'll examine it and recreate it with her clay if needed. She did this plenty of times when we were roaming the galaxy in search of a home. After all the travelling, we realized that there are many other life forms that were in our shoes of being homeless and there was no one to step up and create a home for everyone. No one, until Claycia took the spot…"

Despite being so invested in her story, Kirby's tired mind somehow wandered to his lost apple in Dreamland. Elline continued to talk without looking at him, eventually gazing the night sky, where the exhausted puffball slowly followed her gaze.

"Do you see that hazy red world over there, Kirby? That's the world we'll be at next." Elline pointed. "Once we make it past there, we'll be at the very end of our journey…"

"Poyo…" Kirby said.

"But… as selfish as it is to say this, I don't want our journey to end. I enjoy travelling with you and Bandana Dee. You especially…"

"I do… too… poyo…" Kirby mumbled in an exhausted manner.

"That's sweet of you, Kirby." she blushed and remained silent.

The two spent the next few minutes in silence, looking up at the countless stars. During that time, Elline was thinking about how to continue the conversation to the sleepy puffball next to her.

"Kirby do you know where you came from?" she asked.

This question alerted Kirby, snapping him out of dream state. In response, he pointed at the sky. Specifically, Kirby is pointing at the many sparkling stars.

"You… came from the stars above?" she asked bewilderingly. The puffball nodded and turned to her, as if he was pressing her on why she asked the question.

"It's just that… I don't know where I came from." Elline clarified. "The last thing I remember about myself is waking up in a cave on the Planet HalfMoon. Even Claycia doesn't have much of a clue. She told me that she found me unconscious in a dangerous area and brought me to safety."

"Poyo…" Kirby mumbled, remembering the planet as clear as day. It was the last planet he traversed through before going to NOVA in an attempt to wish for the Popstar sun and moon to stop fighting each other. It is the most dangerous planet in the Popstar system. He can only wonder why Claycia was there in the first place…

"Yet, I remember having a nightmare before I woke up. All I could hear was laughter and screeching in my ears and it was scary." Elline mumbled.

The nightmare she mentioned surprised Kirby. He has encountered nightmares plenty of times before, even fighting a living version of a nightmare at one point early on in his life on Popstar. It was always a foreshadowing to something much bigger later. Perhaps the laughter represents Claycia's evil laughter. Even though he never heard Claycia speak, this theory made some sense to him.

A few more minutes pass as Elline gazes at the stars. Suddenly, she remembered what she was going to give to Kirby back in the great tree, which causes her to blush. "Um Kirby, there was something I wanted to give you back in the tree… hey, are you listening!?"

The puffball was sound asleep beside her. Despite an anger tick mark appearing on the back of her head, Elline knew she couldn't at angry at the cute puffball. It IS really late after all and they need plenty of rest for tomorrow's Red Volcano adventure. Still, this won't stop Elline from giving him the gift she promised even though she wouldn't be able to see his reaction.

The fairy looked around the area first to see if Mimosa or Bandana Dee weren't spying on her before she makes a move…

The fairy lightly kissed Kirby's cheek, her cheeks burning red. "You've done so much for me. Thank you, my hero."

* * *

_It was a… great time for the two of us. We talked and talked… for some time. How long? I wasn't keeping track of time. I… lost myself in my talk with him. Just being outside with him is enough for comfort. I even gave him a gift that I don't want to say here. But… I wonder…_

Kirby wakes up to his empty stomach grumbling and looks around. Somehow, he was back inside his temporary room. Not thinking too much about it, the puffball stood up and rolled into the party room. To his surprise, he saw Elline sound asleep on the table, with her diary next to her and wide open. Curiously, he picks it up and reads over the adventure and thoughts from today through the fairy's perspective. Normally, he wouldn't go into another person's business… but this book interested him because his name is constantly mentioned.

_I wonder if Claycia and I will be friends again. I have my doubts... But when I'm with Kirby, I can do anything! So maybe it can happen. I can only hope… yet hope is what's keeping us going right now!_

His face lit up but he smiled nonetheless. After all they've been through, he knows that Elline is depending on him and Kirby has to show her that he has the strength to help her. He closes the diary and places it back on the fairy's lap. He could hear her muttering his name and Claycia in her sleep. He then left the party room, no longer feeling hungry. Now he returns to bed with a familiar feeling inside him that he hasn't felt since the last time Kirby saw… her…

* * *

"Wow, Elline. You're looking more chipper than yesterday!" Mimosa said. "You were very gloomy. Did something happen overnight?"

"I was… sad…?" Elline asked, purposely acting confused so they won't ask more questions.

"Yeah, you weren't your usual self before we settled in for the night here." Bandana Dee added.

"Hmm…" Elline stole a glance at Kirby, before looking to the ground. "I have no idea." She brushed it off, yet Mimosa's observant eyes caught the act and she smirked internally.

"Anyways, I've done my part in helping." Mimosa smiled mischievously. "Whatever is wrong with Claycia can be fixed by your three."

"Right, and that means that it's time for us to go." Elline chirped.

The trio began walking on the bridge.

"Also, Elline…" Before she could speak, Elline got pulled towards the sportle.

"You and Kirby definitely ARE a perfect match don't you think." Mimiosa whispered out of hearing of Kirby and Bandana Dee. The pair looked to each other in confusion at what was going on. "If he was able to snap you out of gloominess last night then—"

"I don't… He's not… c-c-can you let me go!?" Elline blushed angrily.

"Oh sure, have fun out there! And take good care of my flashlight too!" The sportle pushed her right back to where the boys are standing at. With a sigh, the trio turned to wave at her while travelling backwards. Mimosa waved back gleefully until they stopped and turned back around.

The sportle watched the trio disappear in the sky with a smile. Once they disappeared, she turns and flies back where they came from. She passed through each tall mushroom with grace and ease.

"Time for my daily dose of observation of the forest!" the sportle chirped as she flew up the cliff and disappeared into the trees. She rustled through the bushes and settled on her favorite hidden spot that the author will not mention through text. In this spot, Mimosa kept a watchful eye throughout the quiet forest and remained there for a few hours.

"Ugh… I'm so booorrreed…!" Mimosa mused with a yawn. "It's been a long time since I last saw a Sky Cotta…" The sportle blinked twice and realized something. "Actually, it's been a while since I've seen ANY of the other cotta types. I wonder what happened to them."

Mimosa floated into the sunlight, looked to the orange skies and shut her eyes. She let the warm sunlight and miniature winds bask over her.

"Hmm... something just doesn't seem right…" The sportle concluded with slight worry. "Someone might need my help in a few minutes from now…"

**The beginning of the decade started off pretty bad… but this isn't the time or place to talk about that…**

**So far, we've been reading Elline's entries that describe the past. This time, we start off in the present and I show a glimpse of what's been going on since Seventopia has been restored. Maybe I'll show more of the present later on... who knows...**

**Timeline-wise, if we only consider the intro of this chapter, Planet Robobot should be occurring either before, now, or after this chapter… then long afterwards will be Star Allies… hmm…**

**Anyways, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so go figure.**


	4. The Cotta, the Sportle, the Unknown Clay

**Something tells me that this chapter was supposed to be released in May 2020... **

**Sure I could delay a release until the end of time because my back hurts but nope! I don't want to see another promising fanfiction randomly go on a hiatus, undergo one or more rewrites long before it finishes or even discontinue out of the blue (and even delete the story, preventing other writers from taking the helm because they have no material to reference from). That won't happen with my stories, I guarantee you on that. Besides… this story is almost over.**

**Actually, regarding the hiatus part I mentioned, even though the story could go months without a chapter update, it's not a true hiatus. Simply put, I'm brainstorming about what I could do to make the chapters engaging for you guys to read. One thing I've learned and will share about my writing aspect is that ideas come to me when I do activities that are anything but staring at my word document. Of course, the execution is the hardest part to deal with, hence why the updates come out later than I plan them to (not to mention other factors that I've mentioned a ton of times in the past). **

**What keeps me going, you may ask? Well, a simple answer to that is I want to tell a story to the best of my ability and show it to the world. My Kirby head-canons need to be told in some way, shape or form after all… and it won't stop once this story ends.**

Hidden Chapter 4/14.5/19.5: The Cotta, the Sportle and the Unknown Clay

Claycia stared at her quaking hands, releasing a deep sigh to help quell her bubbling frustration.

Every day since Purple Fortress fell, the sculptress would devote some time to mediate on her balcony, hoping to have her remaining power that was siphoned from Dark Crafter be restored somehow. If she had her full power, she could properly ensure that Seventopia will be safe from any outside invader.

Her ability to siphon color has not been restored, though that is a good thing for the best. The Draining Light had not been used willfully by the sculptress ever since she demonstrated it to Elline back on Shiver Star.

More importantly, her main ability to create magical clay has faltered significantly. She could barely morph a piece of clay into existence without becoming exhausted depending on the size of the clay. It was foolish of her to revive Bastron as one of her first tasks. Especially since Elline was heavily against the idea for more reasons than one.

She was unable to move for a few days after that…

Currently, the cruise ship is circling around Seventopia as a means of transportation. Some of the inhabitants have taken the liberty to ride the ship for fun… but some others are very hesitant. Despite hating what Dark Crafter has done to the ship, she thought that it would be a good idea to use one of its functionalities as a planetary system line of defense… but it's not possible at the moment for obvious reasons.

When she mediates, she's able to observe events unfold from across the galaxy. Her perception allowed the duo to avoid all types of trouble and even out of curiosity, sometimes observe Popstar's orbit briefly. It was easy to do this when she was on HalfMoon but as they travelled the galaxy, the long distance perception puts a strain on her energy. Dark Crafter knew exactly what to take from her so it could use it to conquer the galaxy quickly and efficiently.

But alas, after months of waiting, nothing has come.

She doesn't want to think about the implications but… perhaps a fragment of Dark Crafter that contains the last of her strength still exists in Gamble Galaxy. She hopes that isn't the case but every day the theory seems to come closer to her as the truth.

The last thing Claycia wants is another unfortunate life form being possessed by the darkness in their heart.

"Elline?" she called out.

"Hmm, whaa!?" the fairy woke up from her snooze. She's been by Claycia's side for a full two hours since the sculptress started her meditating. It wasn't the most fun experience to watch Claycia, as she wanted to keep drawing and updating her Secret Diary but Claycia's wellbeing has the highest priority over everything, including her reoccurring nightmares.

However, despite her concerns and priorities, Elline is very exhausted. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to snooze away after Claycia sat in midair. Strangely, she experienced a dreamless, but welcome sleep.

"Do you remember those injuries Mimosa and Cyano received on the last day of the siege?" She asked without turning around.

"Umm…" she thought. Admittedly, their injuries they received were never brought up again after the five of them returned from their triumphant victory. "…I remember something about them being bitten by a 'wild, famished beast'."

"I do too." Claycia turned around, looking somewhat serious. "You should go to Orange Woodlands and ask more about what happened to them."

Elline nodded slowly. "Does this have anything to do with restoring your power, Claycia?"

"I believe so." She half answered. The sculptress didn't want to worry Elline about a possible Dark Crafter influencer looming over the galaxy… yet. Hearing the story about their injuries could be a start to something that the sculptress will intend to solve. Maybe even have Kirby and Bandana Dee assist them… if she was able to form a stable portal connection to Planet Popstar on the galaxy's edge and transport them here.

She just hopes that it won't come down to a scenario of a Dark Matter specimen returning for revenge again.

"Okay, Claycia. I'll leave right away to Mimosa's burrow." The fairy flew up from her seat on the ground and went down the stairs.

Claycia turned back around to face the stars yet again. "Even now, I can't escape the gloomy past that I have tried so hard to not look back on…"

* * *

Elline knocked on the door to Mimosa's burrow. There was no response for a while, which made Elline think that the pair are not home. She was about to depart but the door swung right open, revealing a cyan cotta. A look of shock was apparent on Cyano's face because he wasn't expecting Elline to come by.

"Miss Elline? If you're looking for Mimosa, she's not here. She's in Green Valley presently and not cosseting me again." He said.

Elline slightly frowned at the news but the cotta continued before she could speak up.

"At Master Claycia's request, the cottas and I also finished the new Seventopia postal service. So that means you and Kirby can write letters to each other from across the galaxy." He said in a carefree tone.

Elline couldn't stop the blush that crept up to her face. "I-I was hoping to talk with both of you about something but I think you'll be fine." She said, ignoring the "letters" comment.

"Oh?" The cyan cotta blinked and tilted his head. At a closer glance at his creator, he noticed Elline's dark circles under her eyes but he chose not to mention it.

The fairy sheepishly rubbed her hands together. "Do… do you remember those bite marks you received on that day?" she asked.

The cotta widened his eyes at what she was inferring to. "Y-yes…" he mumbled. "C-come inside, Mistress." He turned around and walked deeper in, with Elline following him.

"You're not going to dodge my question this time?" Elline genuinely asked.

"For better or worse, I won't. Besides, I've changed, thanks to you and everyone else, Miss Elline." Cyano smiled.

Elline couldn't stop the warm smile that spread on her face. Cyano dropped the smile as soon as it came though and he sat on the lobby couch, with Elline sitting next to him with her Secret Diary is in her hands...

* * *

A cotta ran through a multitude of bushes in Orange Woodlands. Despite its clear exhaustion and mild injuries, it continued running straight ahead on the endless path, paying no attention to its surroundings such as an overgrown tree root he is fast approaching. The cotta tripped over it and tumbled onto an open clearing. Too exhausted to get up, the cyan cotta remained in place and shook with terror. Something or someone is pursuing Cyano, but what or who, remains to be seen.

The cotta heard voices from the path he ran on. The sounds were getting louder. Whoever or whatever that was pursuing Cyano will catch up to him at last.

"It-It's over for me… I'm doomed!" He cowered in fear as the voices slowly grew louder.

Nearby, a figure who hid in its own set of bushes intently observed the cotta as it ran to the clearing. Once the figure heard the otherworldly voices, it immediately extended a pink tentacle to the cotta's foot.

"Whaa!?" he remarked as he is being dragged off into a bush.

Cyano followed the tentacle with his sight until he was face to face with an unknown figure. He only could only shriek a surprise gasp before the figure covered where a mouth would be with a tentacle. The cotta squirmed but the grip was too tight and he was exhausted from his long run.

"Shhh… I won't hurt you. I'm a friend." The voice said. Cyano calmed down but he is extremely tensed about his current predicament. First he was being chased by evil minions, and then he was forcefully pulled into a bush to hide with something that he can barely even see.

The Grab Hands appeared at location Cyano was collapsed on and looked around. Cyano quietly shivered when they looked at the bush that he and the mysterious creature were hiding in. Luckily, they didn't suspect that their prey was in front of them so they turned to each other.

"How… did we… lose… that runt…!?" the right hand demanded. "It was… exhausted… from… all that… running…!"

"We… wasted… too much… time…" the left hand reassured. "We… have more… important manners… to attend… too…"

"Bastron… again." The right clarified.

"Yesss… again…" the left said. "Besides… that pest… by itself… won't do… anything…"

"I wish… we caught… the thing. It… would have… been great…"

"Yes…" the left agreed. "Being… unable… to catch… Kirby… has made… Claycia… very angry… at us…!"

"Catching… the cyan one… would surely… make us… somewhat… more competent… to her…" the right hand finished.

The hands departed into the skies without another word. When the coast was clear, Mimosa escaped the bushes, still holding the petrified cotta close to her. She dropped him absentmindedly as she watched the hands disappear out of the orange sky.

"Th-thank you…" Cyano stumbled to his feet, still stupefied about what was going on.

Mimosa turned to him and smiled. "Don't mention it, cute little cotta. I'm happy to help." Her smile turned into a look of confusion. "But… why were they chasing you all the way out here?"

"I- I don't know." Cyano looked away from her gaze. "They suddenly swarmed in vast numbers and captured all of my brethren, except me. I was able to escape our home but those hands were right on my tail the moment they figured out that one is missing! I kept running as fast as I could until I appeared here."

Mimosa levitated motionless as Cyano trembled onto the floor. "I don't know what to do. Everyone is gone and I'm the last one to survive. I… I need help… from anybody. They may not be the best family I had, but… they're family to me."

"…You have help right here!" Mimosa smiled. "In fact, we could get even more! I know three guys that'll definitely help us get the job done."

"Are you… perhaps talking about Miss Elline and her friends?" Cyano asked, looking back at her eyes.

"Yes! You know them, little guy?" Mimosa instituted excitedly. "Err, her friends, I mean."

Cyano nodded nervously. "Y-yes… they helped me and the others and I've still haven't returned the favor to them. But…" Cyano paused, causing Mimosa tilt her entire body to the side. "Who knows where they are right now. The last I've seen of them is when they were heading to the actual Blue Sky Palace to stop the thunderstorms that ravaged the world.

"Judging by the fact that they helped me take down annoying monsters that like to destroy my home, I'd say they were successful in that act." Mimosa chirped. Cyano widened his eyes in surprise. "Let's go find them. They should still be on Red Volcano somewhere. It'll be our job to find them before we do anything else."

_"So they helped this creature like they helped me and everyone else. Now they're in Red Volcano doing who knows what. I need to warn them about what happened to Blue Sky Palace! They could be in danger!" _Cyano immediately began running into the wilderness to find the path to Red Volcano. He was promptly halted by Mimosa, who looked confused at his random and abrupt decision.

"Now hold on a second, if you're going back out there without my help then you got another thing coming, little guy." Mimosa glared slightly.

"S-sorry… I was just thinking about Miss Elline and how she could be in danger…" Cyano mumbled.

"Well if we're going to pull her OUT of danger we don't need one of us to be dragged INTO danger. Amirite?" Mimosa grinned, to which Cyano nodded slowly. "Good! Now let's hit the hay! No time to lose!"

Thus, the duo began their own mini Seventopia journey to the find the main protagonists. After double checking if the coast was really clear, they set out from their spot and into the direction of the Rainbow Bridge to Red Volcano.

"By the way, what's your name, little guy?" Mimosa inquired.

"Oh, um, Cyano." He replied slowly. "Umm… w-w-what's yours?"

"I'm Mimosa, the charming sportle." She posed. Cyano blinked at her pose a few times before snapping himself back to reality.

"S-s-sportle?" The cotta shuddered. "Aren't your kind more violent and territorial… and yellow in color?"

"Yessssss, but I'm different! Other than my pink color, I welcome outsiders as long as they don't seem threatening. My best way of welcoming them… is to prank them somehow!" She giggled.

"Okay, so how did you meet them?" the cotta asked, ignoring the pranking comment. He figured out that she was the sportle who caused everyone else problems each time they scavenge Orange Woodlands. "Surely, you didn't meet them in a similar situation as me meeting you."

"Actually… I kinda did…" the sportle stuck out her yellow tongue in a goofy manner.

"Wait what!? Cyano ran in closer. "What happened? Was Miss Elline in trouble? Did something happen to Kirby that caused her to act erratic again!?

"…It's none of that, Little Cyano. Something happened to Bandana Dee."

"The Bandana guy…" Cyano muttered in thought.

"While I was patrolling, I saw Bandana Dee fall off the waterfall. Before he would land on sharp rocks, I caught him and brought him to safety. He was unconscious but alive and well. So I placed him by the riverbed and waited for him to wake up. Then we bonded like you and me."

"And what of Kirby?" Cyano immediately asked.

"Kirby the fluffy ball—"

"Fluffy… ball…?" Cyano was confused at the nickname.

"It's what I heard Elline muttered in her sleep once. It has to be Kirby right, because he's so soft and fluffy yet as tough as nails." Mimosa shrugged. "A miniature version of me without all the other features."

"Ooh…" Cyano giggled slightly. "Go on, continue." Mimosa explained the events of Chapters 11-13 to the cotta. And likewise, Cyano explained Chapters 8-10 in his perspective. The two bonded as they crossed into the next world and unknowingly followed the direct trail of Kirby and friends.

* * *

"Poyo!" Kirby pointed at a different route that loops around the mountain.

"All right, we'll go that way then and see if there's another entrance inside." Bandana Dee said.

The trio walked alongside the mountain and vanished from sight.

Not too long after the trio left, the colorless zone faded away on its own. Soon after, Cyano and Mimosa appeared at the unguarded volcano entrance.

"They must be inside the mountain somewhere. It would only make logical sense." The cotta concluded.

Mimosa sighed and drooped slightly. "The sooner we find them, the sooner we get out of this world. I haaaate being in really hot places like this."

"Really? I find the environment very nice. Of course, it is a bit warmer than home but still, very nice."

The sportle slightly narrowed her eyes at him. "'A bit warmer' is a severe understatement, Cyano."

"Umm… maybe you'll get used to it…?" Cyano said as he walked inside before she could reply.

"Maybe. Maybe not. The thing I really need to worry about is some fire-breathing monster blasting fire at me while I'm not looking. I wouldn't last a microsecond." Mimosa almost shivered at the thought and joined her cotta friend.

The colorless barrier reformed but they never looked back to notice. The volcanic interior is cooler in temperature than outside surprisingly. Mimosa sighed in relief due to this.

"It's still hot but not scorching hot." Mimosa remarked.

"If we find a lava lake, It will get warmer." Cyano warned. "That is, if we find lava lakes ahead."

"…don't say things like that. I gotta rejoice the time I have now!"

Travelling through passage was a silent trip as only the sounds of moving lava can be heard. The ground was soft enough for Cyano to leave behind a faint trail of footprints that someone can see later. The duo eventually came across a fork in the road.

"Do you think they went right?" Cyano asked.

"Hmm… right is too obvious. Righty tight-y, lefty loose-y is what they probably thought. Let's go left because left is best!" Mimosa declared before swiftly flying into the left passage before Cyano could say anything. The cotta blinked in slight amusement before following the sportle.

The uneventful path they travelled on steadily rose upwards, suggesting that the duo is steadily climbing the volcano. With Mimosa leading the cotta to the summit, this allowed for Cyano to get time to think.

Long before Elline arrived again, Cyano was considered an outsider by his own cotta brethren. Was it for better or worse? He wouldn't have a solid answer for that. All that he knows now is that he somehow escaped the evil Claycia's forces and joined up with the unusual, yet fascinating sportle he's quickly grown to like. No one else could get him to be this social up until now, so how did Mimosa do it to him?

Of course, the implications of this were that he was being chased into a vulnerable position and he was forced to run to her for shelter. Cyano himself, aiding with the same sportle that caused harmless trouble to everyone else. That leaves him with another question… what is up with Mimosa's color? Is she… an outcast like him? Is that why she's being so friendly to him because she sees her own situation in him?

…At the very least, he's done everything he could to not be a part of the big picture, despite fate telling him otherwise. Something compelled him to go out into harm's way to make sure Elline was safe back in Blue Sky Palace. And that was the best decision he's ever made. If he didn't show up, who knows what would happen. And now that same feeling is propelling him to take steps into danger despite his "Hide-and-Scout" mind says otherwise.

What would Mimosa say about all of this if he told her what he was thinking now?

"We're back outside..." The sportle wiped away the sweat on her face. "…And back in this intolerable heat."

This woke the cotta from his daydream. Standing beside her, he could see that they were pretty high elevated on the mountain already. Only about one-third of the climb left to the summit.

Cyano smiled to himself at the progress. Surely, Elline is somewhere at the top preparing for their trip into Purple Fortress. Perhaps if they hurry, they can…

"What is that flying thing!? It looks… like… something horrific, haunting and creepy!" Mimosa pointed to a damaged ship in the distance. When Cyano took a glance at it, his blood turned blue.

"N-no… that ship… is—"

Before Cyano could finish, a pink Rocket flew out of Bastron's nozzle and headed inside the volcano. Then the airship blew up, which scared the cotta senseless. He jumped onto Mimosa's tentacles and shivered in fear. Mimosa couldn't help but cradle him like a baby. Most of the remains of Bastron fell into the lava lake which decreased the volcano's stability.

"I-i-is it over…? Are we dead?" Cyano shivered.

"Nope! We're alive and kicking. And we're going to keep going all the way to the bitter end!" Mimosa said with glee, still holding onto Cyano.

The cotta opened his eyes and the first thing he was Mimosa's eyes and her beaming smile. Feeling himself get warm despite the temperature, he requested her to release him.

"Aww… I wanted to carry you like this for bit longer…" she pouted.

To this, Cyano had no response, other than a blush forming. Mimosa smirked internally; she wanted to see his reaction to this. Contempt with herself and her plan, she placed him on the ground beside her.

"So, what was that ship all about?" Mimosa asked, her serious expression somewhat returning.

"That ship is Bastron. According to Miss Elline, it was supposed to be a cruise ship for Seventopia. But the Master transformed it into a battleship and had it terrorize our home as you know."

"Right, you mentioned that name earlier when talking about what happened before those three came to the Woodlands." Mimosa said thoughtfully, and then grinned. "And if I remember correctly, it was you who saved them from being captured by those same hands who were chasing you."

The duo reentered the volcanic interior. The current trail barred a single path with a seemingly mystical red light emitting from within. However, the duo didn't notice it because of their current chat.

"I… I didn't think they need my help." Cyano looked down. "I just wanted to retrieve something for them before they forget. They… they were very thankful to me afterwards…"

Mimosa remained silent as she stared at him intently. Cyano continued, as if he a leak occurred and the plumber that can fix it refuses to do so.

"My fellow cottas are all different than me in more ways than just our skin colors. I've been the outcast for all this time. Yet, I've abided it for the short time that we've been alive." The cotta dropped small tear. "Even though they eventually learned to tolerate me… everything… is all for the worse…"

"Hmm..." Mimosa hummed, causing the cotta to look her in the eye. "We have a lot in common and it's no coincidence that we met in times like these. Sometimes I think to myself why I am the only type of pink sportle and why I have another side of me. The two sides of the same coin that joins together and unites with the same idea."

Cyano blinked to himself, realizing that Mimosa had similar thoughts to him earlier. "That's what I think about myself as well, minus the 'second side'. The master and mistress say I was colored differently by mistake but they don't mind my appearance at all. But my cotta brethren thought otherwise. I've been treated almost harshly by everyone just because I'm cyan in color." Cyano sighed. "I've avoided direct conversations with them all for the time that we've been alive. I'm… scared of them…"

"Even now…?" Mimosa asked without looking at him. "You're scared of them, yet you want to rescue them?"

"Yes, now. I'm scared of them but I… want…" Cyano now realized what he was saying.

"Cyano, remember this…" Mimosa hesitated. Cyano adorned a look of confusion before it changed into a look of surprise when the sportle underwent "Mimosis" in front of the cotta.

"The two of us may seem like we have two brains but it's just a part of our brain." She said.

"You're only using one part of yours." 1

"You have the brains, but you only use one part of it for fear and vigilance." 2

"Let go of yourself and be free!" She emphasized.

"Let go of myself…?" Cyano repeated. "How would I do that?"

"You don't need to know, you just need to show. For example, you are the first one who didn't run away from me at first sight." She beamed.

"I didn't have much of a choice you know. You caught me off guard at my weakness moment." Cyano retorted softly.

Mimosa widened her eyes at the realization but shook her head before quickly reforming back to her original self. "Look, just, don't let your fear overcome you, okay? Don't always be so scared and isolated. Life is a lot more than just being constantly vigilant even though you always must be constantly vigilant. It'll all be for the better, I'm sure of it!"

"Mimosa, just how do you think you know me? No matter what you say, I don't see a part of myself in you." Cyano cried. "You were alone by accident but I was alone on purpose!"

"You're right, Cyano. You don't see yourself in me. But I see some of myself in you." Mimosa looked towards the rocky ceiling. "Those yellow sportles… I've once tried to be a part of them but I quickly learned that there was no way for that to be possible. Once they realized that, they outed me."

The cotta said no words to her and his expression remained completely neutral.

"I was given the chance to show my worth to them, that I am not an abomination, but I… didn't take it. It was for the best though because the Claycia as we know right now manipulated them into something more than just problematic parasites." Mimosa growled slightly but shook off the anger before turning back to the cotta. "You on the other hand, still have a chance to show the cottas who you really are. I guarantee you, freeing your friends will show you how brave you really are. When they realized that they misjudged you, things will be for the better."

The pair stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something. The only sounds around them are the distant echo of volcanic rumbling.

"I didn't know you had so many years of pep talk in you… Mimi." The cotta said, breaking the unwavering silence.

The sportle giggled, which lightened the mood. "A sportle like me spent a vast amount of time alone in the jungle competing against my own treacherous species and dangle sloths that really make a mess out of things. Naturally, you'll pick up a thing or two. Now let's-a-go moving! The sooner we find Mi—err, Elline and the others, the sooner we get out of this unbearable heat." Mimosa flew on ahead with a grin.

Cyano watched her fly on ahead with a thoughtful expression. "'Don't let your fear overcome you.'" With a deep sigh, he followed the sportle down the volcanic corridor.

Not too long later, the duo appeared at a large flat rocky platform that's floating on top of pure magma that's surrounded by various smaller floating rocks that seem like it hasn't been above ground in thousands of years.

"GAAAH! The heat is UNBEARABLE here!" Mimosa moaned.

"I think I see something up ahead." Cyano voiced.

Truth be told, the cyan cotta is correct. There is a treasure chest on the center of the large platform. It seems like it crashed there some time ago, based on how it was slightly wedged into the rock, forming a miniature crater.

"Another one of those stars?" Mimosa gasped. "We hit the jackpot! Lucky us!"

"Wait but… D-do you think we arrived AFTER Miss Elline?" Cyano gulped nervously. "They should be ahead of us, no?"

Mimosa shook her head without hesitation. "Even if we did, we'll just catch up to them and give them what they missed. I can't blame them for wanting to get out of this volcano. It's too hot to search this whole sweltering place!"

"So are you going to fly over and grab it?" Cyano asked without second thought.

"What? I do not want to be over direct lava! What if it rises and burns me?" Mimosa shivered at the thought of that occurring.

"I… won't let that happen." He replied.

"You won't?" she blinked in confusion.

"I won't, because I'll get it for you." The cotta clarified.

"Umm, if you say so, Cyano…" the sportle gulped, displaying a rare act of nervousness.

Cyano's gaze returned to the treasure chest. He mustered the strength to jump across the rocks on the volcanic pond and Mimosa watched him intently, not wanting to get too close to the lava but also readying herself to save the cotta from a nasty burn if needed, despite her current fears.

Once he reached the center of the crater, he examined the chest. Despite the light pollution from the lava beneath them, the red light emitting from the slightly opened crack outshined the glow of the lava.

"H-how do I know a trap won't activate if I pick this up?" Cyano remarked.

"Pfft! You think this story has some clichés like that!?" The sportle laughed, her nervousness from before vanishing.

"…Yes." Cyano answered much to his and Mimosa's surprise, especially the former.

"Okay… then name one. I'll wait, as long as this sweltering heat doesn't swelter me up."

"Miss Elline. The Ending." He spoke. "Kirby is the hero and technically Miss Elline is the damsel in—"

"…t-t-the point is that nothing should happen if you grab that chest." Mimosa said quickly. "Even if something happens, I'll come get you and fly away to that corridor up ahead."

At the mention of a corridor, Cyano turned around and noticed the corridor that's just a few hops on volcanic rock away. The reason why he didn't notice this eluded him.

"I thought you didn't want to hover over direct lava." The cotta reminded.

"Yessss… but I'll do anything for you, little cotta." She smiled. "I'll never forgive myself if something happened to you on my watch."

Cyano couldn't help but feel warm inside. "_She does care about me…_" As quickly as the emotion came, it faded and the cotta quickly turned back to the chest. With a deep breath, he lifted the chest with his own head and balanced it perfectly.

The pair looked around the room for a moment to see if anything changed. And apparently nothing has changed, which made Mimosa grin widely.

"See? I told you nothing would—"

A red light shined from within the treasure chest. This caused the lava in the room to shine momentarily in a red otherworldly light as well before rising steadily.

"Umm…" Mimosa blinked in surprise.

"Th-things can't get worse… can it?" the cotta asked while shivering.

The entire room rumbled and the magma gurgled. The shaking caused the pillars of rocks on the roof to fall around them. Some large rocks fell onto the rocky path that leads to the next area and destroyed it.

The sequence of events caused Mimosa to split apart again.

"If it was up to me, I would have ignored that chest." 1

"But we agreed with our plan, which is to have him pick it up." 2

"I regret agreeing with you." 1 grumbled.

As the two were arguing, Cyano noticed that the lava began to rise and the rainfall of rocks slowly increased in magnitude. The two clones noticed a larger rock in their peripheral vision about to collapse onto the stranded cyan cotta.

"Cyano, look out above!" she called out before merging into one again.

The cotta looked above and paled at the falling rock speeding towards him. With reflexes that he did not know he had, he jumped out of the way at the last second, much to her relief. However, the jump caused him to drop the chest to the edge of the rocky platform.

"The chest! I must get it!" the cotta declared and ran to it.

With a look of determination, Mimosa moved out of her stationary spot, despite her clear unease of the lava heat from below her. Once Cyano picked up the chest again, he failed to notice another large rock dropping onto his position.

Luckily, she scooped up Cyano and the chest and flew ahead. The rock that fell onto Cyano's old position destroyed the platform, forcing it to sink in the rising magma. As she got close to the passage, the chest emitted a light to cause pillars of lava to erupt in front of them, blocking their passage and forcing Mimosa to perform mimosis again with Clone 1 holding Cyano and Clone 2 holding the treasure chest.

"Wh-what is the meaning of this!?" 1

"'This' is heat and annoyance!" 2

"L-Look up there! There's a spiral stairway at the top of this room." Cyano said. "J-just don't drop me!"

"Like we'll ever do that!" they said before flying up, being very careful to avoid the falling debris.

As they flew up, Clone 2 had to deal with rising lava pillars that homed in on her location while Clone 1 simply dodged the falling debris.

Clone 1 makes it to the staircase without looking back and sets Cyano at the base of it.

"Umm… what about your other half?" The cotta pointed out.

"Other half? That bozo should be… right… next… to me…" Clone 1 glanced around and noticed that Clone 2 was surrounded by lava pillars below her.

"Tell her to give you the chest." Cyano said. "I'm convinced that the treasure chest is the source of our problems."

"What, so I would now have a target on my back?"

"No, well, yes, but you'll be able to save yourself from getting burned." Cyano stuttered, before running up the staircase.

With a sigh, Clone 1 flew down to near Clone 2.

"Oh so now, you show up to help!" 2

"Just give me the chest so you won't be in that sauna anymore!" 1

Without hesitation, Clone 2 tossed the treasure chest to Clone 1, causing the lava pillars to instantly drop down, but then rise to Clone 1.

"Eep! I gotta go now!" Clone 1 zipped off.

"Not without me, you're not." Clone 2 followed somewhat closely.

"Pass the darn thing back and forth, whenever one of us gets in trouble…"

"…then we'll meet Cyano at the top."

The clones followed with their plan. Whenever too many obstacles get in their way, they pass it to their other selves to reset the obstacles.

Eventually, they meet Cyano at the top, with the magma slowly being on their tail. The two clones merge into one before the duo entered the passageway just as boulders fell onto the entrance to seal the path. Both Cyano and Mimosa sat on the ground to take a breather.

"There were sooo many times where I thought I was gonna get roasted." Mimosa shuddered.

"…I'm sorry. I just wanted to get the treasure chest for Miss Elline to have." Cyano said.

"Nonsense, little cotta." Mimosa cooed. "It was surprisingly thrilling to go through all that. Though I wish that the 'lava' factor was taken out of the context."

As she said that, the chest emitted another red glow before fading. Soon after, lava began to pour through the rock slide.

"Oh come ON!" Mimosa groaned before taking off, with Cyano right behind her.

As they ran, they noticed that there was no sign of outside light, which troubled the pair. They came across a scalable wall that led outside. Wordlessly, Cyano allowed the sportle to grab him so she could fly up to safety, just as the lava was about to reach them.

The moment they were outside, the chest emitted another glow, which caused the lava to stop rising. Both Cyano and Mimosa stared at the chest as the light dimmed away.

"So… what was that about nothing bad will happen when I touch the chest?" Cyano asked, with a surprising hint of sarcasm.

Mimosa could only pout and grumble, making him feel bad instantly. The cotta offered a form of patting on the "shoulder" for her hard work by laying his head onto her body.

Surprised at the bold action, Mimosa simply pet the cotta on the head as an affectionate gesture.

Mimosa and Cyano slowly trekked alongside the mountain path. Knowing that the summit was close, they both felt that they could relax a bit until they find Kirby and friends. As they were lost in their own thoughts, a loud 'thud' sound occurred from right behind them, causing them to freeze up for a few seconds. Cyano slowly turned around and came face-to-face to a spear that landed mere inches from him.

"Is… that… a spear?" Cyano questioned in a tone of horror. Mimosa floated closer to the spear and observed it.

"T-that's not just any spear, little fellow." Mimosa said with a surprising tone of seriousness. "Carry it with you; I think Elline and the others are in trouble. The little dee wouldn't drop the spear like that."

"Especially not on my head…" he murmured before carrying it. "Why don't you carry it? You have eight tentacles."

"N-no reason!" she murmured, subconsciously thinking about how angry the waddle dee can get if pushed to the edge. "Let's keep moving."

* * *

Red Volcano's summit is in far worse shape than anywhere else the Seventopian duo has seen in their lives. And that's saying something considering what they've seen already. Various unnatural small craters are scattered across the surface. Some seemed to have been created from a pair of large fists, others form a trench from a concentrated attack, and there is one sizable crater that struck gold with something… or someone…

Yet, the duo strangely weren't concerned with the condition of the summit. Instead, they were concerned with… the aftermath.

"Muh-Miss Elline!?" Cyano yelled before running over to her.

Bandana Dee and Elline are unresponsive and Kirby is nowhere to be seen. Whoever attacked them didn't finish them off but the same could not be said for Kirby.

"Muh-Miss Elline!? Elline!" Cyano shook her lightly to no avail.

"This... complicate things…" Mimosa said sadly as she hovered over Bandana Dee's body.

Cyano teared up. "We could… go back to my home, the Blue Sky Palace…"

"Go back? Are you sure? What if they're waiting for us there?" The sportle questioned.

"They… wouldn't… Kirby is not here… _sniff_…" The cotta mumbled before collapsing on the ground. "There's no way I can forgive myself now…"

Mimosa watched him cry on the ground for some time, feeling his sorrow wash over her. She's never felt so… helpless before. The sportle thought back to scenarios where she was sad. For the most part, she would tough it out because things would get better quickly. A good example of this would be when the small army of Dangle Sloths would ruin the area around her home. The sportle knew that mushrooms grow back quickly so it wasn't something to fret about. But this is different. Cyano is not as tough natured as she is as far as she can tell so she has to find a different approach.

As she looked around the area, her eyes settled on Elline. Then she looked at Bandana Dee right next to her. And lastly, looked around for the M.I.A. pink hero. From there, a lightbulb went off in her head causing her to slowly smile.

She pulled the unsuspecting cotta into a hug. Cyano hugged back without thinking, his tears slowly coming to a stop. This was his first hug. It felt special, warm and… gooey.

"M-M-Mimi…"

"Shh… we're friends… aren't we Cyano…"

"Y-yes…" he said without hesitation.

"If you won't forgive yourself, then I will. I'll be right here for you whenever you need me the most. _Just like how Kirby and Bandana Dee always has Elline's backs..._"

Cyano widened his eyes. "Y-you really mean that?" he asked in disbelief.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Mimosa cooed. "Y'know, I'd never forgive myself if something bad happens to you."

Cyano couldn't hold back the small blush that crept to his face. "She… she really does care about me…" The cotta smiled before backing away from the hug and looked back at Elline and Bandana Dee.

"Now let's head back and treat their injuries. Though, it's gonna take us a while to return to Blue Sky Palace." Mimosa frowned at the thought.

"Don't worry about that." Cyano said. "I know a quick way back from here."

"Wait what!?" The sportle shrieked in surprise.

Bandana Dee barely opened his eyelids. He made out a blur of two familiar figures walking towards him, speaking gibberish to each other. His brain could barely process himself being picked up and hoisted on the back of something large. He could only mutter a few words of surprise before drifting off to sleep again.

* * *

"So that's what happened to you two after we left this world." Elline remarked. "I had no idea."

"Yes, Miss Elline." Cyano closed his eyes in thought and turned away. "It wasn't exactly something I wanted to bring up right away. And it didn't help that my cotta brethren wanted to know how I bonded with Mimosa, the mysterious creature." He opened them and looked back at Elline. "You're the first one I told my tale to with no details left out."

"Still…" Elline put a hand to her chin and closed her eyes in thought. "This doesn't answer my original question…"

"What question?" Cyano genuinely asked.

"How you got those bite marks, you silly thing!" Elline said amusingly.

"Oh… you should have said so." Cyano gulped lightly.

"Should have said what!?" a familiar high-pitched voice yelled. The figure flew into the main lobby and revealed herself.

"Wha!? Where did you come from?" Elline said in shock as Mimosa settled on the couch as best as she could.

"The Grass Cottas weren't a problem like us Sky Cottas were they?" The cotta asked, completely unfazed by the sudden appearance of the sportle.

"Problem? They are way more carefree than you guys, except you, of course. It was much easier to bond with them." Mimosa eyed the bewildered paintbrush fairy next to her. "What were you two up to while I was gone?"

"I was telling Miss Elline about our bite injuries we received before." Cyano answered.

"Oh, so… you told her about the… clay beast?" Mimosa asked in a somewhat gloomy manner.

"Clay beast?" Elline asked. "Wild and famished right?"

"I was getting to that, actually. I've only told her about our adventure through Red Volcano." The cotta clarified.

"Hey you two, what's this 'clay beast' you mentioned?" Elline asked, annoyed that she's being ignored.

Cyano and Mimosa looked at her briefly before looking at each other, then back at Elline.

"W-W-what's the deal?" Elline asked nervously, hating it when someone stares at her.

"Heheh… when I said that this all would be covered in another chapter such as right now, I assumed that it would be sunshine and rainbows for the most part. Turns out, I was wrong about the 'most part'…"

* * *

The state of Purple Fortress is anything but fortified and secure.

After the Clayfission Machine exploded, there has been nothing but chaos roaming the hallways and outside. Without Claycia or the Grab Hands to direct the clay creations, it is every handmade clay for themselves. Each minion focused on getting outside the castle before the roof could collapse on their heads. As for the clay specimen outside, they were still trying to clean up the mess a certain group of rescuers caused, adding more fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile, beneath the first floor, a large pile of rubble formed a miniature mountain over a passage that presumably leads outside. The top of the rubble shook for a moment before it unearthed, revealing a staggered pink sportle.

Mimosa inhaled a breath of fresh air and circled above the pile. Soon enough, the rest of the cottas emerged while coughing, much to her relief.

"I sure hope the other two found Kirby and are in a safe place." She said while scanning the cotta group, making sure everyone is accounted for.

"Wait, where's my little Cyano!?" She yelled, or rather, demanded.

The cottas looked at each other nervously as they tried to pinpoint where he would stand out.

Before Mimosa could say something else, she heard footsteps coming from the hallway behind her. As she turned around she witnessed three exhausted green cottas with chef hats.

"Oh great, this path is blocked!"

"Look on the bright side, we found everyone else."

"Along with the sportle from earlier. I do wonder why the creature here with us in the first place?"

Mimosa instantly flew close to them. This compelled the three cottas to back up in fear. The only reason why they didn't run was because they've seen something far worse than an angry looking sportle. "Have you three seen Cyano while you were rummaging around the pile of debris behind me?" she demanded.

"Um… I…"

"We.. errr…"

"...K-Kirby found us earlier. Does that count?"

"KIRBY… can take care of himself. Cyano, one of your own, CAN'T, even though he's braver than all of you COMBINED. So have you seen him or not!?" Mimosa repeated.

None of the cottas in the area said a word, either out of fear or shock. This frustrated Mimosa but she knew that she can't spend any more time here now.

"If that's the case then I'm going back after him." The sportle declared. "You guys should unearth this rubble so we can all get out of here. It should take us outside to safety." She immediately flew off the path that the cotta chefs were running on.

It took a few seconds for them to get out of their shock. "Wait sportle!" Shamorocka cried. "There's something down there that's very scary and deadly… you don't… want… to…"

"And she's gone…" Pear and Olive simultaneously said.

The rest of the cottas looked at each other nervously, unsure of what to do now. Yes, they escaped captivity and are no longer in danger of turning tan but…

"Y'know, if she cares about Cyano that way then we should all care about her and Cyano in the same way."

Some quiet murmurs erupted from the group.

"I guess that makes sense."

"He helped us in many ways but we left him out."

"We should return the favor to him and the creature."

"Let's not put the creature's faith in us in vain."

"She and Cyano helped us escape so let's help them escape too!"

"Let's all get out of here and find Master Claycia and Miss Elline."

"Yeah!" they all cheered.

And thus, the cottas began to remove each piece of debris and stone that was blocking their exit. The cottas paired up in miniature groups and pulled away the material. All except two cottas who stared at the path Mimosa went into.

"Do you think she'll find the cyan one, Tealeo?"

"Possibly, but we need not to worry about what she does, Cadeto."

"Hey you two, help us unearth this rubble so we can get out of here!" A cotta yelled from afar.

"I'm surprised no one else fell down along with him." Cadeto said. Tealeo nodded in agreement

* * *

The sounds of rubble falling on marble ground were constant and noisy. But it didn't bother an unconscious cotta who slumbered by the entrance of a prison cell meant to hold a certain pink life form.

Slowly, he opened his eyes to examine his limited surroundings. There was a single staircase in front of him. When he looked behind him, he almost jumped back in fright. A Colorless Zone enshrouded what seemed to be a prison cell without bars. And above him, minus the covered up hole he fell down into, is a small vent that he could probably squeeze into and sneak way if he could find a way up there.

"T-This must have been where Kirby was kept prisoner." Cyano deduced. The cotta looked around inside his cell. "I wonder how he got out from there."

As the cyan cotta thought to himself about the current situation, he failed to notice something ominous coming his way.

An unusual sentimental lifeform that is slightly larger than Kirby in size drifted aimlessly down the stairs, mumbling weird and otherworldly gibberish. It has dark blue eyes and its skin is a deep dark silver color. It leaves behind a faint but dark trail of purple aura after each movement. On the top of its head, a part of its body has been morphed into a small makeshift spikey crown. Below its body, it has a small peacock-like tail that drifts with the creature's movement.

Once it set its eyes on Cyano's back, it revealed its four vicious fangs inside its mouth where the inside is a deep black abyss.

"Assess mind…!" It yelled, causing Cyano to turn around and instantly freeze in fear as the dark ball of clay viciously lunged at the cotta.

* * *

"Now if I was a cute and shy little cyan cotta who fell through a hole created from the explosion I have caused, where would I be?" Mimosa thought out loud.

As the sportle turned the corridor, she saw a lone door towards the end of the hallway. She quickly flew over to it and looked inside.

The entire kitchen was a mess, which is expected. Other than parts of the ceiling collapsing onto most of the kitchen's utilities such as the refrigerator and stove, there were plenty of small bite marks all over the place. What surprised her most is that part of a large apple is lying in the middle of the room, virtually unscathed from the damage of the fortress. Ideally, this would tell someone that someone brought this apple to this kitchen recently but…

"Who eats part of an apple and not finish it?" Mimosa pouted before flying over to take a closer look. "Then again, Kirby purposely avoided eating the apples when we were all in Orange Woodlands. I do wonder why that is…"

"P-Pink…?"

Alerted, Mimosa instantly turned around and widened her eyes in what she sees.

The unusual lifeform is in the doorway, analyzing the sportle with its mouth agape. If the sportle could look past the leaking purple aura from its mouth, she'd be staring at an endless dark abyss that could swallow her up if it chooses to lung at her, despite her being over double its size. Instead, it remained still and silent.

"W-w-what the heck are YOU supposed to be!?" Mimosa shouted, forcibly keeping her fear in check.

The life form didn't respond as if it didn't hear the question. Instead, it stared at her, analyzing her.

"Not pink…" It suddenly declared and flew away.

Normally, a sane living being would feel relieved at a predator leaving its prey, but Mimosa is not entirely sane.

"Huh!? Whaddaya mean, 'not pink'… and 'not entirely sane'!?" She snapped. "I'm plenty pink for you, thank you very much." The sportle followed it at a socially acceptable distance.

The lifeform ignored her remarking as it looked around everywhere, looking for specific color that's not necessarily the color following it.

"Pink and cyan…" it randomly announced.

"C-cyan…?" Mimosa gasped.

"Both… not true target but assisted, they have… and will…" The clay lifeform went up a stairway that is largely unaffected from the explosion.

"You…" Mimosa growled. "Hey! Get back here! What did you do to Cyano!?" the sportle flew into its general vicinity, ignoring her own safety protocol of staying at a socially distant manner.

This apparently finally got the lifeform to notice the sportle that's been following it for a while now. The clay turned around and growled as she got close, revealing its four fangs as it growled. Mimosa wasn't fazed one little bit but she couldn't help but be surprised at the calculated animal instincts it has.

"Leave me…!"

"Not without my best friend, I won't!" Mimosa stood her ground.

The clay morphed itself into an almost perfect copy of a cotta. If it had their colors, the replica would be flawless.

"Cyan… inferior… but useful..."

Deterred, Mimosa shook her head and refocused. "So you do know where he is!? Tell me!"

The clay growled in response before lunging at Mimosa.

_The Experiment – _Unknown Sentential Clay…

In an instinct, the sportle flew to the side to avoid the attack. Then she extended a tentacle to whack the false cotta's back and knocked it into a wall. After the dust cleared, the clay was virtually unharmed as it stood tall and angry. It tried to ram into her again but Mimosa flew over it and retaliated by knocking it onto the wall again.

The clay growled again before its eyes flashed purple momentarily. Then, it changed its body shape from a cotta clone to a sportle clone. With this new body, it flew up in the air at Mimosa's level and readied itself.

"You can't copy ME without a shade of pink." Mimosa said in shock.

"Color is weak…!" The clay didn't carry the voice of the combatant it copied. The otherworldly sounds left the real Mimosa freaked out by this clone.

With that, the carbon copy of the sportle attacked by stretching all eight of its fake tentacles at the real Mimosa and grabbed her.

While in its grip, Mimosa extended her free tentacles to combat the monster. Unfortunately, the Clay extended more tentacles out of its body to stop hers in their tracks.

"Okay, you can't just copy me and use your other tools!" she complained.

Without a word, the Clay slammed her into the ground a few times, leaving her woozy. Then the Clay slammed her into a wall.

Mimosa slowly looked up from her grounded position and watched the fake tentacles retract. Seeing a possible opportunity, the sportle attempted to levitate above ground but she fell back down in pain.

The Clay rotated its false body quickly and rammed into Mimosa again, sending her flying through the wall and into a vacant room. It wasted no time in following the injured sportle, intending to finish her off. When the dust settled, the Clay stared at not one but two sportles. It seems that the constant beating forced her to split apart into her argumentative selves.

"Unclear..." it mumbled before morphing back to its ball form and remained motionless in the air.

Mimosa clone 2 is the first to sit up. Upon looking at herself, she gets her other form up.

"Wait, how did I underwent mimosis!?" clone 1 looked over herself. Clone 2 gazed at the confused dark clay before smirking.

"It doesn't matter because that thing was no match for MY skills and willpower!" 2 said smugly. Naturally, this tipped her identical twin off.

"If you have half a brain as you claim, you'd realize that thing was pulverizing us!" 1

"We may have split up but I have a full, whole and well-functioning brain compared to you." 2

"Okay, Einstein… what should we do next like this!?" 1

"We… uh… umm…" 2

"Exactly! Let's continue this battle already… as ONE UNIT! 1

The two clones merged back to one swiftly. "Can't I ever get along with myself?" the sportle frowned and winced at the bruises she received.

The Mind Clay muttered something inconceivable under its breath before turning around and flying away.

"No you don't!" Mimosa took to the air once more and prepared to ram into the mysterious clay. However, the mind clay anticipated the attack. It flew above the sportle just as it was about to get hit, throwing her out of balance. Then, with its eyes settled on a particular spot on Mimosa's backside, it latched its four fangs onto the spot.

"YOWCH!" she cried. Mimosa franticly flew around the room, bumping into the surrounding walls to get the parasitical clay off of her. It took a few seconds of extreme discomfort from both sides before the clay released its grip.

"Pthweeeh… nasty clay taste...!" The Mind Clay remarked. Seeing as there's no need to waste any time with the sportle, the Clay flew up through the large holes in the ceiling and disappeared, leaving an exhausted and injured Mimosa behind.

"That… must have left… a mark…" Mimosa collapsed onto the ground, blacking out soon after.

* * *

"Th-that's the wild and famished beast you were talking about?" Elline gasped.

"Yeepp…" Mimosa shrugged.

"Why didn't you tell me or Claycia about this sooner?" Elline pressed.

"Neither of you didn't ask us to explain it in detail, Miss Elline." Cyano bluntly said. "Like I said, you're the first person we've told our tale to."

"And besides, it's not like we'll be controlled again because of those marks. After we defeated Dark Crafter, the bite marks disappeared. Check it out!"

Elline looked them over. They were telling the truth as the dark wounds from before disappeared entirely. Not even scars were left behind. The fairy made note of that in her diary.

"Anyways… I'm not done with my part of the story." the sportle said. "I still need to mention how the two of us found you three. That's where the sunshine and rainbows part kicks in."

* * *

"Quickly… let's get her out of here…"

"Wh-what if she wakes up and… eats us!?"

Mimosa shuffled her eyes a little bit as she is regaining consciousness.

"Don't be delusional."

"But we are delusional."

"Not as delusional as those purple shock creeps dissolving out of thin air for no reason."

"That's not what 'delusional' means but okay."

The sportle groaned lightly as she felt a major headache after waking up. The cottas that are carrying her didn't notice she's awake due to her making groans of discomfort earlier.

"She's… heavier than… I thought…"

"How could… sportles be heavy?"

"Never mind her weight. How much further are we going?"

"If we could get her to the elevator I found up ahead, everything will be fine… I hope." A cotta said.

Despite all the voices she heard, none stood out from the most recent one. In fact, she could already pinpoint who said that and where they said that in the cotta group.

"Cyano!? You're okay!" Mimosa woke up fully and flew off of the cottas' heads. It took her a few seconds to locate the cyan cotta's voice in the masses then dived straight at him. Then she lovingly wrapped him in the form of a hug, pushing away everyone else. "I was afraid that something bad happened to you."

"N-n-no but yes, but actually n-n-no bub-because you're awake now…" Cyano stuttered with a huge blush on his face. The cottas who weren't shoved like dolls backed away to give them space. Most were surprised at their actions and others were amused.

"Hehehe, that's so sweet of you little Cyano… wait, what's this on your back?" Mimosa saw a dark bite mark on his back.

"A… v-v-very scary and floating dark clay bit me." Cyano shiverred. "I don't remember what happened after I got bit but when I woke up, I wasn't anywhere near Kirby's prison cell. That's where I fell down towards when that machine exploded."

"Y-you ran into it too!?" Mimosa set him down on the ground. "I got bit by the strange thing too! And I lost consciousness not too long afterwards so I have no idea where it went." Mimosa growled lightly.

The cyan cotta walked around her and saw the dark, swollen bite mark. He noted that the marks are near where the brain would be. "Wh-what should we do? What if it's around here somewhere?" Cyano said. The rest of the cottas shivered nervously at that thought.

Mimosa opened her mouth to reply but then she remembered something before she got bit…

* * *

_"Pink and cyan…" it announced._

_"C-cyan…?" Mimosa gasped._

_"Both… not true target but assisted, they have… and will…"_

* * *

"We should find Elline and Bandana Dee." She concluded after a moment of thinking. "Chances are, they reunited with Kirby and are taking on Claycia right now. As much as I want to pound that clay into the ground for hurting you, we don't have time to look for it." Mimosa finished calmly.

Her words surprised Cyano because the idea behind them was well thought out to him. Before he could reply, Mimosa continued.

"…Although, I just remembered that the path I took to find you became buried by the fortress debris from that explosion." She said.

"Oh that shouldn't be a problem. I memorized the layout of this fortress. If we turn the corner, we should see the elevator from before up ahead."

"Ooooh, I told you that you have the brains. And you're using all parts of it too!" Mimosa beamed.

"Heheh… thanks to you, Mimosa." Cyano smiled.

"Excuse us but… what about us?" A few cottas said, causing the duo to turn around and face them all.

"You guys… should go back home. Rebuild the Cotta Cloud." Cyano suggested.

"With Elline's help, we'll find out why Claycia is acting like this." Mimosa added. "_Though, I already have my suspicions…"_

The cottas looked towards each other and murmured amongst themselves.

Cyano widened his eyes at the action. "Umm… Mimosa… they're going to be talking like this for a while…"

"What makes you say that?" she asked.

"I know them almost as much as they know me." The cotta concluded before turning around and walking off, surprising the sportle.

"Hey, hey, hey, we're just gonna leave them out here by themselves?"

"…yes."

The two stared at each other for a moment. The only sounds around them were faint sounds of the sky cottas' murmurs and echoes of the fortress falling apart.

"…alright then, let's go in that elevator." She shrugged.

The pair continued through the hallway and came across the central elevator which is no longer surrounded by the Colorless Zone. They entered it and awaited the rise to the top.

Not too long later, the door opened and it revealed a small hallway of colorless enemies such as cottas and sportles. This made the pair shudder at the sight of them, especially Cyano.

"It looks like we're at the very top of the fortress…" Cyano mumbled.

"Yes, we are. And to prove that point, I see our friends ahead." Mimosa pointed out. "With a non-hostile Claycia too. Let's go!" Mimosa wrapped a tentacle around Cyano and dragged him across.

"You know I can walk." The cotta cried.

"Where's the fun in that, you little cute cotta." She giggled.

* * *

"So that's what happened?" Elline muttered as she wrote down the last sentence of the story in her Secret Diary.

"Mmmhmm! That's what happened!" Mimosa said.

"Yes, that clay ran off and we never saw it again, then we rode the elevator straight to you." Cyano confirmed. "For better or worse, I suppose." The cotta stood up and walked towards a wall, seemingly lost in thought for a moment. "Of course, it was the best choice of action for us to accompany you, Miss. But for worse is… well…"

Cyano turned looked into Elline's eyes again for a moment before looking away. "I confess... for a while, I truly forgot about that scary clay… and I don't forget easily."

"I didn't forget but there was no need to bring that thing up until you showed up and asked us." Mimosa shrugged. The cotta shot her a look of disbelief but he didn't speak his mind.

"Okay, I understand now. Thanks you two." Elline smiled. "This will be all for the better, I'm sure of it!"

"Of course Elline! Always happy to help you!" Mimosa chirped.

"Does Master Claycia need to know all this for something important?" Cyano asked.

Elline nods in confirmation. "The information is important for her so you are doing her a big favor." Cyano smiled inwardly at that.

Contempt with everything, Elline put away her diary and flew outside. The Seventopian pair followed her closely.

"Umm… there's a faster way to get to the resort, Miss." Cyano called to her.

Elline laughed. "Of course there is and of course you know the shortcut. Though…" The fairy shot him a glare. "…you know entering the resort without permission is against the rules, correct?"

Cyano nodded, though he did everything in his power to keep his stoic façade in check. "Y-yes, but please understand that knowledge of the shortcut is only for my interest of... knowledge..."

"In other words, it makes life a looooot easier, Elline!" Mimosa added. "Don't you know that Little Cyano's shortcuts are top notch?" The sportle turned to him. "Don't you agree, my little dumpling?"

"Yes, those hidden light bridges are top notch in everything but visibility." Cyano muttered to himself.

"Anyways Elline, you got everything you needed to know right?" Elline nodded silently. "Good, well I'm going back inside. Holler if you need me, little cotta." With that, the sportle flew inside and disappeared. Elline and Cyano looked back at each other.

"What do you intend to do in the future, Miss Elline?" Cyano asked.

"I… want to visit Popstar someday… but Claycia and other things comes first." Elline replied. "What about you?"

"_Judging by the dark circles under your eyes, I agree._" Cyano thought. "Letting go and learn more about everything." He replied quickly.

"Is that it?" Elline narrowed her eyes playfully.

"Yes." The cotta replied with a neutral face. "But I have someone to thank for that." Elline tilted her head curiously. "After all, meeting Mimosa is for the best in hindsight…" Cyano smiled slightly.

_I don't know what would have happened if Mimosa and Cyano didn't help us in our adventure. You know… I'd rather not talk about the "what ifs" and focus on the now, which is looking forward to another relaxing day in Seventopia._

_Still, I wonder how Kirby is doing right now…_

Meanwhile, on a certain starry planet, a giant battleship is literally drilled into the planet itself and mechanized the surface. Despite this siege however, its five legs have been destroyed and its underside has an opening.

Upon closer inspection, a bright yellow star with two passengers, one is pink and the other is wearing a bright blue bandana, flew straight into the opening, right as the battleship sealed the aperture.

Furthermore, somewhere far away from the invaded planet, a strange gray meteorite approaches it. At the speed it's travelling at, it will be long after the invasion is when it will crash onto Popstar…

**I've mentioned the events of Planet Robobot briefly in the ending author's note last chapter. So I'll mention it again. Why? Because timeline and consistency is something I'm not good at so I have to bring it up to tell myself one of the many things I'm bad at.**

**Either way, the next chapter will be the last one in this story… or is it? Why I bring this up now is because I've been formulating ideas of what to do for possible world building in Seventopia. Whether I do this or not, depends on the context of the next chapter. If I decide to go with the original five chapter route for this story, the last chapter will cover the events of Purple Fog from Chapter 19 in the main story, something that I originally was going to include but I cut it for a variety of reasons including but not limited to: Chapter Pacing, Executing the ideas were (and still are) difficult and nervousness of my head-canons.**

**To reiterate that last point about my head-canons, there are scenes, situations, events and ideas within the world of A Rainbow Tale that I wish I did differently, researched more in-depth before executing, and/or use as part of a reoccurring theme for the grand theme. For instance, Dark Crafter's origins are a perfect example. The dark matter being a part of the legion that attacked Ripple Star made sense but… it apparently lost its memory after Dark Star exploded and destroyed Zero 2 and all its underlings. I made one direct reference to this event and implied it various times in text. Yet, story-wise… the execution of this idea made little sense I feel.**

**I could keep going if I wanted to but this is an author's note for crying out loud! Someone could have (no, should have) put that as one of the reviews and I'd realize this mistake of mine sooner. **

**The Hidden Chapters is the perfect story to put those events here, despite my general fears of how it will be perceived by you, the reader...**


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